A Quick Guide to SNAP Eligibility and Benefits

Most families and individuals who meet the program’s income guidelines are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). The size of a family’s SNAP benefit is based on its income and certain expenses. This paper provides a short summary of SNAP eligibility and benefit calculation rules that are in effect for federal fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025.

Impact of Shutdown and Recent Law Changes

Congress failed to enact an appropriation for fiscal year 2026 by October 1, resulting in many aspects of the federal government being temporarily shut down. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has indicated that states should issue SNAP benefits for October 2025 as regularly scheduled. Individuals with questions about the status of SNAP during the shutdown should contact their state human services office. (See box, “How to Find Out If You Can Get Help From SNAP.”)

Some SNAP households will lose SNAP eligibility or have their benefits cut starting in late 2025 or in 2026 as a result of the Republican megabill that President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025. In particular, some people will be cut from SNAP due to the law’s expansion of a rule limiting SNAP to three months in a three-year period for certain individuals who can’t document that they are exempt (for example, because of a disability) or are working or participating in a qualifying activity for 20 hours a week or more. In addition, certain immigrants who are living lawfully in the United States and have been granted humanitarian protection by the federal government will be cut from SNAP, and benefits will be reduced for some households without an elderly or disabled member who can’t provide documentation of their utility costs.

Many current participants will face these cuts when their SNAP eligibility is next recertified. States recertify eligibility for most SNAP households every six or 12 months. If a state takes action earlier than the next recertification, the household should receive a notice and an opportunity to provide additional information before their benefits are terminated or reduced.^[1]

Determining Eligibility

Under federal rules, to be eligible for SNAP benefits a household’s^[2] income and resources must meet three tests, though income and asset limits are higher for households that are categorically eligible for SNAP, and most states have raised income and asset limits using “broad-based categorical eligibility.”^[3]

• Gross monthly income — that is, household income before any of the program’s deductions are applied — generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line. For a family of three, the poverty line used to calculate SNAP benefits in federal fiscal year 2026 is $2,221 a month. Thus, 130 percent of the poverty line for a three-person family is $2,888 a month, or about $34,656 a year. The poverty level is higher for bigger families and lower for smaller families.^[4]
• Net income, or household income after deductions are applied, must be at or below the poverty line.
• Assets must fall below certain limits: households without a member who is aged 60 or older or has a disability must have assets of $3,000 or less; households with such a member must have assets of $4,500 or less.

What counts as income? SNAP counts cash income from all sources, including earned income (before payroll taxes are deducted) and unearned income such as cash assistance, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and child support.

What counts as an asset? Generally, resources that could be available to the household to purchase food, such as amounts in bank accounts, count as assets. Items that are not accessible, such as the household’s home, personal property, and retirement savings, do not count. Most automobiles do not count.^[5]

Who is not eligible? Some categories of people are not eligible for SNAP regardless of their income or assets, such as individuals who are on strike, all people without a documented immigration status, many immigrants with lawful immigration statuses,^[6] some students attending college more than half time,^[7] and certain people with drug-related felony convictions in some states.

Who faces a time limit on receiving SNAP unless they meet additional requirements? Many adults aged 18 through 64 who do not have children under age 14 in the home and do not have disabilities are limited to three months of SNAP benefits every three years if they are not working or in a work or training program at least 20 hours a week. States have broad authority to extend work requirements to many other SNAP households. (See box, “SNAP’s Three-Month Time Limit.”)

Calculating Benefit Amounts

SNAP expects families receiving benefits to spend 30 percent of their net income on food. Families with no net income receive the maximum benefit, which is tied to the cost of USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). The TFP represents the cost of purchasing and preparing a nutritionally adequate diet, consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, for people in low-income households, assuming they take significant steps to stretch their food budget.

For households with net income, the monthly SNAP benefit equals the maximum benefit for that household size minus the household’s expected contribution of 30 percent of its net income.^[8]

Table 1 shows the maximum SNAP benefit levels and estimated average benefits in fiscal year 2026 for households of different sizes. For example, consider a family of three: if that family had no income, it would receive the maximum benefit of $785 per month; if it had $600 in net monthly income, it would receive the maximum benefit ($785) minus 30 percent of its net income (30 percent of $600 is $180), or $605. We estimate the average benefit per person in fiscal year 2026 will be $188 per month or $6.17 per day.

Deductions play an important role in determining SNAP benefits. They reflect the fact that not all of a household’s income is available for purchasing food; some must be used to meet other needs. In determining available (or net) income, the program allows the following deductions from a household’s gross monthly income:

• standard deduction to account for basic unavoidable costs;^[9]
• earnings deduction equal to 20 percent of earnings (this accounts for work-related expenses and payroll taxes while also acting as a work incentive);
• dependent care deduction for the out-of-pocket child care or other dependent care expenses that are necessary for a household member to work or participate in education or training;
• child support deduction for any legally obligated child support that a household member pays;^[10]
• medical expense deduction for out-of-pocket medical expenses greater than $35 a month that a household member who is an older adult or has a disability incurs;^[11] and
• excess shelter deduction, set at the amount by which the household’s housing costs (including utilities^[12]) exceed half of its net income after all other deductions. For example, the excess shelter deduction in 48 states and D.C. is limited to $744 in 2026 unless at least one household member is an older adult or has a disability.^[13]

All SNAP households can receive the standard deduction. Over two-thirds (68 percent) of SNAP households claim the shelter deduction, while 28 percent of households (and over half of households with children) claim the earnings deduction. By contrast, the medical, dependent care, and child support deductions are claimed by small shares of SNAP households: 5 percent, 2 percent, and 1 percent, respectively.^[14] (For an example of how deductions affect benefit levels, see box, “Example: Calculating a Household’s Monthly SNAP Benefits.”)