SNAP benefits update: Map shows States with biggest enrollment decline

Participation in the nation's largest food assistance program has fallen over the past year, with new federal data showing enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) declined by more than 13 percent over a 12-month period as eligibility rules and work requirements tightened under President Donald Trump's domestic policy package.

SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, are paid to more than 35 million low-income Americans each month to help them with the cost of groceries. It is the largest federal nutrition assistance program and serves millions of households with children.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows a drop in enrollment from 42.2 million in May 2025 to 36.6 million in May 2026, a fall off significantly larger than original federal projections. Over the past 16 years, the average number of monthly SNAP beneficiaries has only dropped below 40 million twice, in 2019 and 2020, according to the AP.

Supporters of the Trump administration's SNAP updates say the stricter requirements are intended to encourage workforce participation and reduce government spending and fraud, while anti-hunger advocates argue some eligible recipients may lose benefits because of administrative hurdles, missed paperwork deadlines or difficulties navigating the recertification process.

Newsweek reached out to the state agencies that oversee SNAP in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada for comment by email on Friday.

The sharpest decline has been recorded in Arizona, where SNAP participation has fallen by more than half over the past year, about 53 percent, according to USDA data released on August 14 tracking the percent change from May 2025 to May 2026.

In May 2025, there were 887,000 Arizonians on SNAP, per the data. One year later, in May 2026, there were around 410,000 people on SNAP in the state.

Much of the state's drop was related to the state's struggle to implement new federal requirements, the state agency that oversees and administers SNAP said.

“Implementing the federally mandated changes triggered unprecedented call volumes and administrative hurdles, including additional verification requirements, creating real barriers for applicants,” Brett Bezio, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, told the AP.

Several other states, including Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada, have also seen enrollment drop by more than 20 percent during the same period.

"Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) historically experiences minor month-to-month fluctuations due to a variety of factors," a public information officer for the Division of Social Services (DSS) in Georgia told Newsweek in a Friday email. "Issues currently affecting enrollment are policy changes, the implementation of expanded work requirements, individuals relocating, or customers no longer needing assistance."

Georgia saw enrollment drop from around 1.87 million in May 2025 to 1.18 million in May 2026, a 36.5 percent drop. In Nevada, SNAP enrollment decreased 23.1 percent year over year, falling from nearly 497,000 participants in May 2025 to about 382,000 in May 2026.

"The Division of Social Services (DSS) implemented federal work requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) on Feb. 1, 2026," a DSS public information officer told Newsweek. "Under these federal requirements, individuals who do not meet the approved work participation activities are limited to three months of SNAP benefits within a 36-month period. As of May 1, 2026, approximately 27,700 individuals lost SNAP eligibility for not meeting those requirements."

Florida saw SNAP enrollment fall 22.2 percent, from about 2.94 million participants in May 2025 to 2.29 million in May 2026, according to USDA data. The state's membership decline is partly attributed to immigration concerns, Paco Velez, president and CEO of Feeding South Florida, told the AP. He noted that some immigrants who are legally in the country may be avoiding SNAP benefits because they fear being targeted by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Louisiana recorded a 21.5 percent decline in SNAP participation over the same period, with enrollment dropping from roughly 804,000 recipients to 631,000.

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025, expanded work requirements for some SNAP recipients. The law extended the requirements to additional adults, including those ages 55 to 64 and some parents with older children, while narrowing certain exemptions. It also tightened the criteria states must meet to waive the requirements in areas with high unemployment or limited job opportunities.

Supporters say the changes are designed to encourage workforce participation and reduce government spending, while critics argue that stricter work requirements, narrower exemptions and additional paperwork could cause some eligible recipients to lose benefits, particularly if they fail to meet administrative requirements or provide required documentation in time.

In February, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the new requirements and other factors would lower SNAP enrollment over the coming decade, with an estimated 34 million beneficiaries by 2036.

Food banks in some parts of the country say they are already seeing more families seek emergency food assistance as SNAP enrollment declines. In New Mexico, food bank leaders told lawmakers that demand for assistance has risen following the loss of SNAP benefits for roughly 25,000 residents, while some food banks reported demand increases of 40 to 60 percent amid affordability pressures, KUNM reported on August 20.

Similar concerns have been raised in Texas, where Feeding Texas, the state's food bank network, said it has seen increased demand in recent months as SNAP participation fell by about 14 percent year over year, the Texas Tribune reported in May.

Nearly 2.7 million people receiving SNAP benefits across five states are set to face new limits on what they can buy over the next six weeks, as the Trump administration pushes to remove soda, candy and other products from SNAP.

South Carolina's rules are slated to begin August 31, followed by North Dakota on September 1, Montana on September 30, and Ohio and Virginia on October 1, according to the USDA's current list of SNAP food restriction waivers. The USDA's latest state-level figures show that the five states had more than 2.6 million SNAP participants as of April.

The five states are joining Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah, where food-restriction waivers have already taken effect this year.

However, the expansion has also hit a significant legal obstacle. On June 22, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the USDA exceeded its statutory authority when approving projects that restrict what SNAP recipients in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia could buy with their benefits.