How Much SNAP Benefits Can You Get Per Month?

Your monthly SNAP benefit equals the maximum allotment for your household size minus 30 percent of your net income. For fiscal year 2026, that produces a ceiling of $298 a month for one person and $994 for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and DC, with a guaranteed minimum of $24 for qualifying one- and two-person households.¹ How much you actually get depends on who lives with you, what you earn, and which deductions apply.

Maximum Monthly Allotments for FY 2026

The maximum allotment is what a household of your size receives if it has no countable income. Everyone else gets less. For October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, the maximums in the 48 contiguous states and DC are:¹

1 person: $298
2 people: $546
3 people: $785
4 people: $994
5 people: $1,183
6 people: $1,421
7 people: $1,571
8 people: $1,789
Each additional person: add $218

Alaska and Hawaii use higher figures because food costs there run higher. A one-person household in Hawaii can receive up to $506, and one in urban Alaska up to $385.² USDA adjusts these amounts every October.

Household size is not just “who lives here.” A SNAP household is everyone who lives together and buys and prepares meals together, but spouses and children under 22 living with a parent are always counted in the same household, whether or not they share food. Boarders who pay a reasonable amount for meals generally are not counted, and members disqualified for program violations or certain immigration reasons are also excluded from the count used to set your maximum allotment.³

How Deductions Bring Your Countable Income Down

SNAP does not use your gross paycheck in the benefit formula. It uses net income, which is what remains after a series of deductions. Larger deductions produce a lower net income and a higher benefit. For FY 2026, the main deductions in the 48 contiguous states and DC are:

A standard deduction of $209 for households of one to three, $223 for four, $261 for five, and $299 for six or more. Every household gets this automatically.⁴
An earned income deduction equal to 20 percent of gross earnings from work.
A dependent care deduction covering the actual cost of child care or care for a disabled adult when needed for work, training, or school. No federal cap.
An excess shelter deduction for housing costs (rent or mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and a state-set utility allowance) that exceed half of income after the other deductions. The deduction is capped at $744 a month, but households with an elderly or disabled member have no cap.⁴
A medical expense deduction, available only to elderly or disabled members, for out-of-pocket medical costs above $35 a month.

Two details matter for how these apply. The standard utility allowance varies by state, so identical rent bills can produce different shelter deductions in different places. And under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, internet costs can no longer be included in the shelter deduction or the utility allowance.⁵

The 30 Percent Calculation, With an Example

Once your net income is set, the math is simple. SNAP assumes a household will spend 30 percent of its net income on food. Your state multiplies your net monthly income by 0.30 and subtracts the result from the maximum allotment for your household size. What is left is your monthly benefit.³

Take a three-person household earning $1,800 a month in wages and paying $400 in rent:

Gross income: $1,800
Earned income deduction (20%): −$360
Standard deduction: −$209
Adjusted income: $1,231
Half of adjusted income: $615.50
Shelter costs ($400) do not exceed half of adjusted income, so no excess shelter deduction applies
Net income: $1,231
Expected food contribution: $1,231 × 0.30 = $369.30, rounded up to $370
Maximum allotment for three: $785
Monthly benefit: $785 − $370 = $415

Every additional dollar of net income cuts the benefit by about 30 cents, so the amount phases down rather than dropping off a cliff.³

The Minimum Benefit and the Zero-Benefit Line

If the formula produces zero or a negative number, you get nothing that month. But one- and two-person households that pass all eligibility tests receive a minimum monthly benefit of $24, even when the math would give them less.⁴ Larger households have no minimum, so a household of three or more with high enough net income can be eligible in principle and still receive $0.

Whether you pass the eligibility tests in the first place is a separate step. Most households must fall under 130 percent of the federal poverty level in gross income and 100 percent in net income; households with an elderly or disabled member skip the gross test.⁶ In the 46 states that use broad-based categorical eligibility, gross income limits may be higher and asset tests may be reduced or eliminated.⁷

Your First Month Will Likely Be Less

If you apply on any day after the first of the month, your opening benefit is prorated. The state figures your full monthly amount, divides by the number of days in the month, and pays you for the days from your application date through month’s end.⁸ If the prorated figure comes out under $10, no benefits are issued for that first month. From the second month on, you receive the full amount.

What Can Reduce or Cut Off the Amount You Receive

A few rules can shrink your benefit or end it entirely regardless of what the calculation would otherwise produce.

Adults ages 18 to 54 who are able to work and have no dependents can only get SNAP for three months out of every three-year period unless they work, volunteer, or train at least 80 hours a month.⁹ The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 pushed the top of that age range up to 64, narrowed the child-in-the-household exception to children under 14, and removed prior exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults who aged out of foster care.⁵

College students enrolled at least half-time are generally ineligible unless they meet an exemption such as working 20 hours a week, participating in work-study, receiving TANF, caring for a young child, or being under 18 or 50 or older.¹⁰ One exemption is enough.

Federal asset limits still apply on paper: $3,000 in countable resources for most households, $4,500 if a member is 60 or older or has a disability.⁴ Most states waive or raise this limit through broad-based categorical eligibility.⁷

Intentional program violations, such as misreporting income, carry a 12-month disqualification for a first offense, 24 months for a second, and permanent disqualification for a third. Trafficking $500 or more in benefits or trading benefits for firearms brings permanent disqualification on the first offense.¹¹ If your benefits are denied, cut, or ended, you have 90 days to request a fair hearing, and benefits generally continue at the prior level if you request the hearing before the change takes effect.¹²

1
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information
2
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP FY 2026 Maximum Allotment Amounts for Alaska and Hawaii
3
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
4
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP FY 2026 COLA Memo
5
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025
6
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP FY 2026 Income Eligibility Standards
7
Food and Nutrition Service. Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE)
8
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.10 – Determining Household Eligibility and Benefit Levels
9
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Work Requirements
10
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.5 – Students
11
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.16 – Disqualification for Intentional Program Violation
12
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.15 – Fair Hearings