Looming cutoff of SNAP funds, new restrictions: A story for every community

By Eva Lorenz

Expert sources can help reporters understand impact on economy, health

Monthly grocery assistance money that more than 22 million households near or below the poverty line receive from the federal government won’t arrive on Nov. 1, per administration guidance on October 24. It’s a story with broad implications that’s coming to every local newsroom in the country this week.

Social scientists who’ve studied the economic and health impacts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and broader social safety net programs can offer evidence and expertise in this moment to help reporters provide important context and dispel misinformation and disinformation about it.

In addition to this overview, reporters can turn to SciLine’s interview with an expert on food access, and use our Expert Matching service for help on a specific story.

Funds are not available to cover monthly SNAP payments scheduled to go out Nov. 1 under the ongoing federal government shutdown, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture memo published by Axios Oct. 24, and the Trump administration has opted not to use emergency funds to cover it.

A number of states have signaled that they’ll step in to make up the difference so that families can afford food next month, but unless federal policy changes, those funds won’t be reimbursed, creating potential state-level budget issues.

Beyond the short-term impact of SNAP funds being cut off due to the government shutdown, there are a raft of long-term changes to SNAP being implemented under the 2025 budget reconciliation bill that could have further-reaching implications for some of the most vulnerable people in communities across the country.

The wide-ranging budget reconciliation bill, dubbed “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” will eliminate an estimated $187 billion in federal spending from SNAP through 2034 by introducing numerous restrictions on who can receive funding.

Localized data available on SNAP cutoff’s impact

SNAP provides financial assistance to low-income families for groceries, but it also stimulates local economies. “SNAP dollars are a huge boon to the local economy,” said Meredith Niles, nutrition and food sciences professor at the University of Vermont. They “are used in local grocery stores, convenience stores, Walmarts—all these places that employ people.”

Changes to SNAP will vary across the country, as some states will be more able to take on the program’s funding. Using fact sheets from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, you can find how much a single SNAP dollar benefits the economy in your state.

SNAP dollars are allocated to families with the tightest household budgets. “The more your income is below the poverty line, the more money you get,” said Heather Eicher-Miller, nutrition science professor at Purdue University and director of Indiana’s Emergency Food Resource Network. “But it is still not very much.”

SNAP services were used across the country by an average of 41.7 million people per month or 12.3% of Americans in fiscal year 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

KFF provides state-by-state data on average monthly SNAP benefits per individual and more localizable data here.

Scientific research is also available to enrich reporting on two other major potential impacts of the SNAP funding cutoff:

• Some groups of people will be more affected than others by these changes. One study found that food insecurity, or inadequate access to food, is disproportionately felt by Black or multiracial families.
• Reduced access to SNAP benefits may have profound impacts on the health of families. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that SNAP lessens nutrition and health inequities and is tied to better health outcomes, lower health care costs, and greater access to food for recipients. Another study found that SNAP recipients reported fewer sick days, fewer doctor visits, and more regular checkups than those not using SNAP benefits.

Understanding new restrictions on SNAP funding

As the government shutdown cutoff of SNAP funding brings attention to the program, journalists should understand some significant changes and reductions in permanent funding for the program that will have local implications long after the shutdown is resolved.

Some SNAP changes stemming from this year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation are already in effect, excluding some households from qualifying for SNAP and lowering benefits for others.

Work requirements: To access SNAP benefits, able-bodied adults without dependents previously had to meet specific work requirements until age 54. Those requirements now extend to age 64. And households are now only exempt from additional work requirements if their child is under the age of 14.

The general work requirement for people ages 16 to 59 includes registering for work, participating in SNAP employment and training, and maintaining at least 30 hours of work a week, with a few exceptions. Additional work requirements, such as working and/or participating in a work training program for a total of 80 hours a month, for able-bodied adults without dependents, were previously only for people aged 18 to 54.

Households with dependent children were exempt from additional work requirements. The maximum age of a qualifying dependent was decreased from 17 to 13, so, for example, a household with a 14-year-old is no longer exempt.

A report from the Economic Policy Institute found that work requirements failed to increase employment in the past. Refer to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics charts for seasonally updated state unemployment rates.

Based on data from the 2015 census, 55% of non-disabled adult SNAP participants worked during an average month in 2015. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities gives more information on employment rates.

Housing and utility costs: Certain housing and utility costs can no longer be factored into SNAP benefits calculations.

Certain utility costs were previously subtracted from families’ incomes to determine SNAP benefits, helping more families across the board qualify for the program and providing additional benefits to families living in places with especially high housing and utility costs. Families that use state Low Income Home Energy Assistance Programs (LIHEAP) or other energy assistance programs were allowed to deduct a set allowance, but this is no longer the case. LIHEAP eligibility varies by state. The National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition has updated LIHEAP fact sheets for each state.

Similarly, internet bills can no longer be factored into SNAP benefit calculations. Families applying for SNAP benefits may choose to do without internet access. Disparities in internet access may impact academic performance, as one study showed students in rural areas who have less or no access to the internet at home performed worse in school.

Immigration status: Some non-citizens are now ineligible for SNAP benefits.

Undocumented people have never been eligible for SNAP. Non-citizens including refugees, people who have been granted asylum in the U.S., and certain victims of trafficking and violence who had been eligible for the program’s benefits are now ineligible. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 90,000 people are losing access to benefits on average.

Education program: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, known as SNAP-Ed, no longer exists.

SNAP-Ed was an evidence-based public health project intended to promote healthy food choices and physical activity. “The educational program provides direct education to people through a curriculum that teaches the dietary guidelines and how to get the most nutrition for your food dollar in a practical way,” said Eicher-Miller. Indirectly, SNAP-Ed “promotes healthful access to food and more opportunities for physical activities and health promotion.” The educational program lost funding and was eliminated at the end of September 2025.

The impact of SNAP-Ed in each state is not always quantified, but research from another state may be relevant to your story. Eicher-Miller’s research, for example, showed that SNAP-Ed was effective at lowering food insecurity for families in Indiana.

Food prices: In addition to several other provisions that are expected to reduce long-term overall funding for SNAP, the USDA will no longer recalculate the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) benchmark every five years based on the price of foods, instead basing adjustments solely on inflation, starting Oct. 1, 2027.

The TFP is an indicator of the lowest amount of money needed to purchase a nutritionally balanced diet. It is calculated by the USDA and used to determine the amount of money given to families through SNAP each month. Typically, the TFP is adjusted every year to account for inflation and recalculated every five years to account for food prices, ingredients, eating patterns, and dietary guidelines. Research suggests the last TFP increase, which occurred in 2021, prevented gaps in food insecurity and health outcomes related to inflation from worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 20% increase in TFP from 2021 increased SNAP benefits by 12 to 16 dollars per person per month. Without changes to the TFP, SNAP benefits will not increase to meet the nutritional and financial needs of recipients. When basic food items rise in price due to anything other than inflation, such as bird flu affecting the cost of eggs or other supply chain issues, the TFP will not take these changes into account.

More state expenses: The federal government will shift more of the cost of administrative funding to state governments, effective Oct. 1, 2026.

The USDA had been splitting administrative costs evenly with state governments. After this provision takes effect, the USDA will only pay 25% of those costs, leaving 75% to the states. States will be required to pick up that slack or lower their budgets for SNAP, and states with lower average income levels or high poverty rates may have a harder time doing so.

Error rates: The federal government will establish state-matching fund requirements for SNAP programs, starting Oct. 1, 2027 (with some exceptions).

The state matching-fund requirement is based on the state’s payment error rate, or the percentage of funding that goes out through SNAP due to administrative errors. If a state’s error rate exceeds a certain threshold, the state will need to contribute a certain amount of SNAP benefit cost. For example, states with error rates of 10% or greater must pay 15% of benefit costs. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains potential impacts of SNAP costs being placed on states using localizable data.

Some states will have more time to decrease their error rates. If a state has an error rate over 13.33% in 2025 or 2026, the implementation of this state-matching won’t go into effect until 2029 or 2040, respectively. In 2024, the average error rate across the U.S. was 10.93%, ranging from 3.28% in South Dakota to 24.66% in Alaska. Find your state’s 2024 error rate, per the USDA.

Eva Lorenz is a science writer based in Austin, Texas. Her work focuses on the intersections of health and culture and can be found in Texas Monthly.