SNAP Calculator 2026–27: Food Stamp Income Limits, How Much You Get and Where It Ends

SNAP, the program many people still call food stamps, is for households with income before taxes of up to 130% of the poverty line, $1,729 a month for one person or $3,575 for four, and most states let households in at a higher income. From October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027 it pays up to $1,023 a month for a family of four; put your household in below to see what yours would likely get and the exact pay where it would stop.

Who can get SNAP?

You can likely get SNAP if your household’s income is under SNAP’s limits and your savings are under its savings limit, in the states that still have one. SNAP looks at the whole household. Under the rule, a household is a group of people who live together and buy and cook their food together, or one person who lives alone or buys and cooks apart from the people they live with (7 CFR 273.1). Some people always count together, whatever they do about food: married couples, children under 22 who live with a parent, and children under 18 cared for by an adult in the home.

Under the federal rule, a household has to pass three tests (7 CFR 273.9 and 273.8):

• Gross income. Gross income is income before taxes or anything else is taken out. It must be no more than 130% of the federal poverty line for your household size, or your state’s higher limit.
• Net income. Net income is what is left after SNAP’s deductions for work, housing, child care and a few other costs. It must be no more than 100% of the poverty line.
• Savings. Money in the bank and some things you own must be under SNAP’s savings limit, unless your state has dropped it.

Some households skip tests. A household with someone 60 or older or with a disability does not have to pass the gross income test, only the net one. A household in which everyone gets TANF cash help or SSI does not have to pass any of the three (7 CFR 273.2(j)). And most states use a rule called broad-based categorical eligibility: a household under the state’s own income limit, which is often higher than 130%, does not have to pass the net income test, and in most of these states it has no savings test either.

What are the SNAP income limits?

From October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, a household can have gross income of up to $1,729 a month for one person, $2,345 for two, $2,960 for three and $3,575 for four. Its net income can be up to $1,330, $1,804, $2,277 and $2,750. The table gives every household size up to eight people, with the most SNAP each size can get.

Households with someone 60 or older or with a disability only need to pass the net income test. Many states let more households in with a higher gross limit; each state page says.

Sources: SNAP – Fiscal Year 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (memo and tables, signed August 21, 2026) (USDA Food and Nutrition Administration (formerly Food and Nutrition Service)); 7 CFR 273.9 Income and deductions (eCFR up to date as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); 7 CFR 273.10 Determining household eligibility and benefit levels (eCFR 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); 7 CFR 273.8 Resource eligibility standards (eCFR 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); Public Law 119-21 (the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"), 4 July 2025, Title I Subtitle A "Nutrition", sections 10101-10108 (139 Stat. 81-85) (U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo)). Checked October 31, 2026.

The gross limit is 130% of the federal poverty line for your household size and the net limit is 100%, each worked out by the month and rounded up to the next dollar (7 CFR 273.9(a)). The poverty line is a yearly income the federal government uses as a yardstick, and it goes up with each person in the household. SNAP’s limits move to the newest poverty line every October 1. Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher figures, and the calculator uses them when you choose one of those states. In rural Alaska the most SNAP pays is higher still than the calculator shows.

Most states let more households in. Under broad-based categorical eligibility a state can set a gross limit above 130% of the poverty line, and many use 200%. If your income is between 130% and your state’s limit, you can still get SNAP. Your amount is worked out in the usual way, from your net income, so a household near a high state limit may get only a little, or nothing. Your state’s page on this site says which limit your state uses, and our income limits page puts SNAP’s limits beside every other program’s.

How much SNAP will I get?

You get the most SNAP a household of your size can get, minus 30% of your net income (7 CFR 273.10(e)). SNAP expects a household to spend about 30% of its net income on food, and it pays the rest, up to the most for its size. From October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027 the most is $306 a month for one person, $562 for two, $808 for three and $1,023 for four.

1. Gross incomePay and other income before anything is taken off
2. The gross testUnder 130% of the poverty line (higher in many states); skipped with someone 60+ or disabled
3. Deductions20% of pay, a standard amount ($217 for 3 people), child care, high rent and utilities
4. Net incomeWhat is left after the deductions; must be under 100% of the poverty line
5. 30% of itSNAP expects a household to spend 30% of net income on food
6. Your SNAPThe most for your household size, minus that 30%

So a household with no net income gets the most for its size, and each dollar of net income takes about 30 cents off. When 30% of net income is as large as the most for your size, SNAP reaches zero.

There is a floor for small households. A household of one or two people that qualifies gets at least $25 a month, even when the sum gives less, in every month except the first (7 CFR 273.10(e)(2)(ii)). Households of three or more have no floor: when the sum reaches zero, they get nothing. In the first month, SNAP is paid only from the day you applied to the end of the month, and a first month worth less than $10 is not paid.

What counts as income, and what does SNAP take off?

SNAP counts the money that comes in each month, before taxes: pay from work, and other income such as Social Security, unemployment benefits, child support you receive, and cash help from TANF or SSI. Taxes taken out of your pay do not come off. Instead, SNAP takes off these deductions (7 CFR 273.9(d)):

1. 20% of your pay from work. So a dollar earned counts for less than a dollar from other income.
2. The standard deduction, which every household gets: $217 a month for one to three people, $229 for four, $268 for five and $308 for six or more.
3. Medical costs over $35 a month, only for household members who are 60 or older or have a disability. Many states use a set amount instead of adding up the bills.
4. Care costs for a child or for an adult who needs care, when you pay them so you can work, look for work or train for work. There is no cap.
5. Child support you pay to someone outside your home because you legally owe it.
6. High housing costs. Your rent or mortgage, property tax, home insurance and utilities, above half of what is left of your income after the other deductions. Unless someone in the household is 60 or older or has a disability, this deduction is capped at $769 a month.

For utilities, a state may use a set amount, called a standard utility allowance, instead of your bills. The largest one is for households that pay for heating or cooling. In the calculator, the box “Bills you pay apart from rent” asks which you pay. Internet bills no longer count as a housing cost at all. Households with no home of their own can get a set shelter deduction instead, in states that offer it.

How much SNAP does a family of three get?

A family of three can get up to $808 a month, and what it gets depends on its income and costs. Take a single parent with two children in Ohio, earning $1,800 a month, paying $1,000 rent with heating. SNAP takes off 20% of the pay, the standard deduction of $217, and the part of the housing costs that is more than half of what is left. That leaves a net income of $454. Thirty percent of it comes off the $808 most for three people, which leaves $671 a month of SNAP.

At this pay the family owes $0 in federal income tax. The calculator also counts its tax credits for the year, $7,316 from the Earned Income Tax Credit and $2,865 from the Child Tax Credit, spread over the months. So you see what the household has to live on in a month, not SNAP alone.

How much SNAP does one person get?

One person can get up to $306 a month, and at least $25 if they qualify. Take one adult in Pennsylvania earning $1,200 a month, paying $750 rent with all utilities included. After SNAP’s deductions their net income is $365, and 30% of that comes off the $306 most for one person. That leaves $196 a month.

This person is between 18 and 64 and has no child at home, so SNAP’s time limit applies to them, as it does to many single adults. To keep SNAP for more than 3 months in 3 years, they must work, or take part in a work program, at least 80 hours a month. The time limit is explained further down this page.

Will I lose SNAP if I get a raise?

Usually not all at once. For most households, each extra dollar of pay lowers SNAP by about 24 cents: 20% of the dollar comes off as the work deduction, and SNAP takes 30% of the rest. When high rent is part of the sum, SNAP can fall faster for a while, because the housing deduction shrinks as income grows. Either way, SNAP takes back only part of a raise.

Here is the family of three from above. Earning $1,800 a month, it gets $671 of SNAP. If the parent’s pay rose to $2,950 a month, SNAP would be $381. The raise would cost some SNAP, but far less than the raise itself.

The exception is the income limit. Not every household’s SNAP has shrunk to zero by the time its income reaches the limit, and at the limit SNAP stops all at once. That drop is a cliff, explained in the next part. Taxes and other help change with a raise too: the Earned Income Tax Credit can grow or shrink, and health coverage, child care help and other programs have limits of their own. Our guide to the benefits cliff says which programs have cliffs and how big they get.

The calculator shows your own case. Put your household in, then type a raise into “What if you earn more?”: it shows what the raise would leave you after taxes and lost help. Once you get SNAP, ask your SNAP office which changes in pay or household you must report, and by when.

Where does SNAP end, and why can it be a cliff?

SNAP ends at the first of three points: where your gross income goes over its limit, where your net income goes over its limit (if your household has to pass that test), or, for households of three or more, where 30% of net income reaches the most for the household’s size. The first two are cliffs. One dollar over a limit and SNAP stops, however much it paid one dollar below.

How big the drop is depends on the household:

• One or two people. They get at least $25 a month while they qualify. So near the top of their state’s limit they often get just that, and lose it with one more dollar of pay.
• Families in states that use the 130% limit. A family with rent or child care to pay can still get a real amount of SNAP at the limit, and lose all of it at once. Ohio uses the federal 130% limit, $2,960 a month for three people. Our family from above, earning $2,950, would still get $381 a month. Once its pay passes the limit, that SNAP is gone.
• Families in states with a higher limit. Their SNAP often shrinks to nothing before their income reaches the state’s limit, so they see the slow fall and no drop. Large child care or housing costs can keep SNAP above zero all the way to the limit, and then the drop comes there.
• Households with someone 60 or older or with a disability. They have no gross income test, so SNAP goes on until their net income passes the net limit, or until the amount reaches zero.

1. Your pay goes upA raise, more hours, a second job
2. Taxes take a littleAbout 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, then income tax
3. Help shrinksSNAP, tax credits and marketplace help fall a little with each dollar
4. A limit is crossedSome help stops all at once at a set income: Medicaid, child care help, CHIP
5. The cliffOne dollar more in pay, hundreds less in help
6. The climb backThe pay where you are ahead again: the calculator finds it

The calculator finds these points for your own household. It works your household out at every level of pay, from $0 up, and marks each place where one more dollar of pay leaves you with less money, with the help that is lost there. Under “Your next cliff” it gives the pay where that happens and how much pay it would take to come out ahead of it. Knowing where a cliff is lets you see what a raise of any size would really leave you. How the calculator works sets out how it finds each cliff.

What if someone in my home is 60 or older or has a disability?

Then SNAP’s rules are easier on your household in four ways. Under the rule, a member is elderly from age 60, and has a disability if, for example, they get SSI or Social Security disability benefits, or the VA rates them as totally disabled (7 CFR 271.2).

• The household does not have to pass the gross income test, only the net one.
• Housing costs have no cap: all of the cost above half of the income left comes off.
• That member’s medical costs over $35 a month come off, including health insurance and Medicare premiums, prescriptions, dental care, glasses and trips to the doctor (7 CFR 273.9(d)(3)).
• The savings limit is higher: $4,750 instead of $3,000.

Take a woman of 68 in Florida who lives alone on $2,000 a month from Social Security, paying $1,400 rent with heating and $200 a month in medical bills. Her income is over the gross limit for one person, $1,729, but that test does not apply to her. After her deductions, including her medical bills and the part of her rent above half of her remaining income, her net income is $582. That is under the net limit of $1,330, so she qualifies, and SNAP pays her $131 a month.

So if you are 60 or older or have a disability, an income over the gross limit does not rule you out. In the calculator, put medical bills that insurance does not pay in “Medical costs not covered”.

Is there a limit on savings for SNAP?

The federal limit is $3,000 in countable savings and property, or $4,750 if someone in the household is 60 or older or has a disability, but most states have dropped it for most households (7 CFR 273.8). Countable means cash, bank accounts, stocks and bonds and some other things you own. Your home and the land it is on, your household goods, burial plots, most retirement accounts and pension plans, and some cars do not count.

The states that use broad-based categorical eligibility mostly drop the savings test for households under their income limit. A household in which everyone gets TANF cash help or SSI has no savings test either. In the calculator, put bank accounts and cash in “Savings and cash”.

Does SNAP have a time limit or work rules?

Yes. Adults aged 18 to 64 who can work and have no child under 14 in their household can get SNAP for only 3 months in 3 years, unless they work or take part in a work program at least 80 hours a month, which is 20 hours a week on average (7 CFR 273.24). Public Law 119-21, signed on July 4, 2025, made this rule reach more people in its section 10102. It now covers adults aged 55 to 64, and parents whose children are all 14 or older. It also ended the exceptions for veterans, for people who are homeless, and for young adults up to 24 who were in foster care when they turned 18, as USDA’s Economic Research Service sums up the change (EIB-304).

The time limit does not apply to you if you are:

• under 18, or 65 or older;
• pregnant;
• certified as physically or mentally unable to work;
• a parent or other member of a household with a child under 14 you are responsible for;
• excused from SNAP’s general work rules, for example because you care for someone who cannot care for themselves;
• an Indian, Urban Indian or California Indian as the Indian Health Care Improvement Act defines them.

The time limit can be lifted only for areas where unemployment is over 10 percent. Alaska and Hawaii have some other ways to lift it, one of them only until the end of 2028. Ask your SNAP office whether your area has a waiver.

This rule is about hours, not pay. If your hours drop under 80 a month, you can lose SNAP after three months, however low your pay is. The calculator’s SNAP card says when the time limit may apply to someone in your household.

SNAP also has a general work rule for most adults who can work: register for work, take a suitable job, and do not quit or cut your hours without a good reason. People under 16 or 60 and over, and people who care for a child under 6 or for someone who cannot care for themselves, are among those excused, as the Congressional Research Service sets out (R48552). Public Law 119-21 did not change this general rule.

Can immigrants get SNAP?

Some can. Since Public Law 119-21 (section 10108), a person can get SNAP only if they are a U.S. citizen or U.S. national, a lawful permanent resident (a green card holder), a Cuban or Haitian entrant, or someone who lives here lawfully under a Compact of Free Association. Most lawful permanent residents first have to wait five years, with some exceptions. Refugees, people granted asylum and humanitarian parolees who are not permanent residents can no longer get SNAP, as USDA’s Economic Research Service sums up the change (EIB-304).

One person’s status does not stop the rest of the household. Children who are citizens, for example, can still get SNAP when a parent cannot. The income and savings of the person who cannot get SNAP still count for the household; some states count only part of that person’s income. If you give each person’s immigration status (it is optional), the calculator leaves out of the household those the rule leaves out, counts all of their income, and shows the larger amount you would get if your state counts only part of it (7 CFR 273.11(c)(3)). Left blank, everyone is worked out as able to get SNAP, and the answer says so. The SNAP office works out the amount for the members who can.

What changed for utility bills, LIHEAP and internet costs?

Two things changed when Public Law 119-21 took effect in July 2025. First, getting energy help such as LIHEAP (the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) no longer, by itself, gives a household SNAP’s heating and cooling allowance, unless someone in the household is 60 or older or has a disability (section 10103). A household without such a member needs heating or cooling costs of its own to get that allowance. Second, internet bills no longer count as a housing cost at all (section 10104).

Why it matters: the heating and cooling allowance is the largest set amount for utilities. A larger housing deduction means a lower net income, and a lower net income means more SNAP. If you pay for heating or cooling apart from your rent, tell the SNAP office, and choose that answer in the calculator.

How do I apply for SNAP?

You apply to your state, because each state runs SNAP for the people who live there. USDA’s SNAP state directory lists every state’s SNAP office, with its website and phone number. When the calculator says you likely qualify, its SNAP card links to your state’s own SNAP website. Many states give SNAP a name of their own: in California it is CalFresh, and in Wisconsin it is FoodShare.

Applying is free, and no one may charge you to apply. Apply as soon as you can: in your first month, SNAP is paid only from the day you apply (7 CFR 273.10(a)). Only the SNAP office can say for sure whether you qualify and how much you get. The calculator gives an estimate from the published rules and what you type.

Does getting SNAP help with other programs?

Yes. Children in a household that gets SNAP get free school meals without a form, because school districts must match their students against SNAP records each school year (7 CFR 245.6(b)), and school-age children are enrolled in Summer EBT without applying where the state takes part (7 CFR 292.12(d)). WIC, the food program for pregnant women, new mothers and young children, counts SNAP as meeting its income rule (7 CFR 246.7(d)). And getting SNAP qualifies your household for Lifeline, a discount of $9.25 a month on one phone or internet plan (47 CFR 54.409). The calculator shows each of these for you.

What is FDPIR, and can you have it with SNAP?

FDPIR, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, gives USDA Foods to households on or near Indian reservations. It runs where a Tribe asks for it, and a Tribe or the state runs it (7 CFR 253.1). Every household living on a reservation where FDPIR runs may apply, whether or not anyone in it is American Indian. In the areas near a reservation that the program serves, Indian tribal households may apply, and the program accepts the household’s tribe’s papers as proof of membership (7 CFR 253.6(b)). People who get it must be living in the United States lawfully, but they do not need to be citizens.

You cannot get SNAP and FDPIR in the same month. Where both run, a household chooses one. A household that is in either program on the first day of a month gets only that program that month. To switch, it ends the first program, and the other starts the next month (7 CFR 253.7(e); 7 U.S.C. 2013(b)). Someone barred from one program for fraud is barred from the other for the same time.

FDPIR’s income limit is SNAP’s net income limit plus SNAP’s standard deduction, set each October 1, and income is counted after deductions for earnings, child care, child support paid, some medical costs and housing (7 CFR 253.6(d)-(e)). A household where everyone gets SSI or TANF has no income test. USDA’s own table for October 2026 to September 2027 is not in our files yet, so the calculator says “Not checked yet” for FDPIR’s income test. The value of FDPIR foods is never counted as income by other programs.

The calculator shows an FDPIR card only if you say, under Household, that you live on a reservation or near one. Near one, tick “Someone here is a member of a Tribe” if a person in the household of any age is recognized as a member by a Tribe (7 CFR 253.2). Then the SNAP card also says that the two cannot be used in the same month. Only the Tribe’s or state’s FDPIR office can say whether it runs where you live.

When do SNAP amounts and limits change?

Every October 1. On that day the most SNAP pays is adjusted for the rise in prices over the year to June, most deductions and the savings limits are updated, and the income limits move to the newest poverty line (7 CFR 273.9(a); Public Law 119-21, section 10101). The figures on this page are for October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, from USDA’s yearly cost-of-living tables, and they change here on the day the next ones start. Under section 10101, a review of the food plan behind SNAP’s amounts is allowed from October 1, 2027, and it may not raise the plan’s cost.

Figures checked October 31, 2026.

Questions people ask

What is the SNAP income limit for a family of 4?

From October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, a family of four can have gross income of up to $3,575 a month and net income of up to $2,750 under the federal limits, and most states let families in up to a higher gross limit. A family of four can get up to $1,023 a month.

What is the smallest SNAP payment?

A household of one or two people that qualifies gets at least $25 a month, except in its first month. Larger households have no smallest payment: if the sum gives nothing, they get nothing.

Is SNAP the same as food stamps?

Yes. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is the program people still call food stamps. It is paid each month onto an EBT card (EBT stands for electronic benefit transfer).

Does SNAP count my pay before or after taxes?

Before. SNAP starts from your gross pay, before taxes and anything else is taken out. Taxes are not one of its deductions, but 20% of your pay comes off.

Can I get SNAP if I work full time?

Yes, if your household’s income is under the limits. Working does not stop SNAP. Pay from work counts for less than other income, because 20% of it comes off. Working at least 80 hours a month also meets the work hours that SNAP’s time limit asks of adults without a child under 14.

Why might the SNAP office give me a different amount?

The calculator gives an estimate from the published rules and what you type. The office may count your income over different months, use your actual bills or your state’s own amounts, and check things the calculator does not ask about, such as immigration status. Only the SNAP office decides.

Does this website take SNAP applications?

No. Benefits Calculator is an independent calculator, not a government website. It takes no applications, keeps nothing you type and sends nothing anywhere. You apply through your state’s SNAP office, and the calculator’s SNAP card links to it.

Updated November 1, 2026