SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides a monthly grocery allowance loaded onto an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, which you use like a debit card to buy food for home preparation at authorized stores. For fiscal year 2026, the maximum monthly allotment in the 48 contiguous states and D.C. runs from $298 for one person to $994 for a household of four, with more for larger households.1Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information Most households receive less than the maximum because the program expects part of your own income to go toward food.
What You Can Buy
SNAP covers almost any food product intended for home consumption. That includes breads and cereals, fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, and fish, dairy items like milk, cheese, and yogurt, non-alcoholic beverages, snack foods, and baking ingredients. You can also use benefits to buy seeds and food-producing plants, such as tomato seeds or fruit-bearing bushes, to grow produce at home.2Food and Nutrition Service. What Can SNAP Buy?
Some states and local communities run nutrition incentive programs that stretch SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables. At participating farmers’ markets or grocery stores, spending $10 on produce with your EBT card might earn you another $10 in produce credit. The federal Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program funds many of these efforts, so availability depends on where you live.
What You Cannot Buy
Benefits will not cover:
- Alcohol — beer, wine, and liquor
- Tobacco products of any kind
- Vitamins, over-the-counter medications, and anything sold with a Supplement Facts label, which includes many energy drinks and protein powders
- Cannabis-infused food and drinks, including CBD products
- Live animals, with narrow exceptions for shellfish, fish removed from water, and animals slaughtered before pickup
- Non-food items such as pet food, cleaning supplies, paper products, hygiene items, and cosmetics
Enforcement happens automatically at checkout: the register rejects ineligible items based on their product codes.2Food and Nutrition Service. What Can SNAP Buy?
Hot Food Is Excluded
SNAP generally cannot pay for food that is hot at the point of sale. Rotisserie chicken, hot deli sandwiches, coffee, soup, and pizza sold hot from a store counter are all ineligible, regardless of who heated them.3Food and Nutrition Service. Retailer Eligibility – Prepared Foods and Heated Foods The same item sold cold or at room temperature, such as a cold deli sandwich, is usually eligible.
A narrow exception exists through the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) in states that have opted in. It lets certain participants buy prepared meals at authorized restaurants, but only if every member of the household is age 60 or older, disabled and receiving disability-related benefits, experiencing homelessness, or the spouse of someone in those groups.4Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Restaurant Meals Program If your household does not fit, the EBT transaction is declined at a restaurant.
How Much SNAP Provides
Benefit amounts are anchored to the Thrifty Food Plan, USDA’s estimate of what it costs to maintain a basic nutritious diet. That plan sets the maximum monthly allotment by household size. For FY 2026 (October 2025 through September 2026) in the 48 contiguous states and D.C., the maximums are:1Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information
- 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: $218
Most households do not receive the maximum. Your actual benefit equals the maximum for your household size minus 30 percent of your net monthly income.5eCFR. 7 CFR 273.10 – Determining Household Eligibility and Benefit Levels So a single person with $500 in net monthly income would receive $298 minus $150, or $148 per month. Households with no countable income receive the full maximum.
Net income is what remains after several deductions come off your gross earnings. For FY 2026 those include a standard deduction of $209 per month for households of one to three people, a dependent care deduction for childcare tied to work or school, an excess shelter deduction (capped at $744 per month) for housing costs that exceed half your income after other deductions, and a medical expense deduction for out-of-pocket costs over $35 per month for elderly or disabled household members. Earned income also gets a 20 percent deduction before net income is calculated. One- and two-person households always receive at least $24 per month, even when the formula would produce less.6USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP – Fiscal Year 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustments
How the EBT Card Works
Each month, your benefit is deposited electronically into an EBT account. At checkout you swipe or insert the card and enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to authorize the purchase.7eCFR. 7 CFR 274.8 – Functional and Technical EBT System Requirements Any authorized household member or representative can use the card if they know the PIN, and the store cannot require additional identification.
You can check your remaining balance at any time. Unused benefits roll over month to month, but there is a catch: if your account sits inactive for nine months (274 days), the state will begin permanently removing your oldest benefits.8eCFR. 7 CFR Part 274 – Issuance and Use of Program Benefits You will get a notice at least 30 days before any removal, and once benefits are removed they cannot be restored. Even a small purchase within the nine-month window keeps your balance safe.
Stolen Benefits
Card skimming and cloning have become more common. Federal law previously let states replace stolen benefits using federal funds for thefts between October 1, 2022, and December 20, 2024. That authority expired on December 20, 2024, and has not been renewed.9Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Sunset of Replacement of Stolen Benefits Plans Benefits stolen on or after December 21, 2024, are not eligible for federal replacement, though individual states may choose to replace them with state funds. If you spot unauthorized transactions, report the theft to your state SNAP agency right away and request a new card and PIN.
Beyond the Monthly Allotment
SNAP funds a nutrition education component called SNAP-Ed, which teaches participants how to stretch a grocery budget, plan healthy meals, and build active habits. SNAP-Ed works with local organizations to run classes, share recipes and meal-planning guides, and support community campaigns to expand access to healthy food. It is free to participants and operates in every state.10Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP-Ed
After a Presidential disaster declaration of Individual Assistance, states can request approval to run the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP). D-SNAP delivers one month of emergency food benefits to households facing hardship — lost income, property damage, or food spoilage from power outages — that would not normally qualify.11Food and Nutrition Service. Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) Households already on regular SNAP can request a supplement that brings their benefits up to the maximum for their household size. D-SNAP benefits are issued on an EBT card within 72 hours of approval, and the application window is typically open for about seven days.