SNAP Enrollment Plummets 13% as Stricter Work Requirements Take Effect, Straining Food Banks and Schools

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has fallen sharply over the past year following restrictions implemented by the Trump administration, driving more individuals toward food banks or leaving them without adequate nutrition, according to advocates and state officials.

The number of beneficiaries dropped from 41.6 million in July 2025—before the One Big Beautiful Act took effect—to 36.5 million in June 2026, a 13% decline, per the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

While the administration and Republican allies argue the changes incentivize employment, elected officials, nonprofit leaders, and food-insecure Americans contend the policies simply erect higher barriers to feeding their families.

“There is always going to be a percentage of our communities who we need to help—we have to accept that—and so, once we accept it, it is easy to just move forward and do the right thing, which is to provide resources to people who need them,” said Rhona Kamar, founder and executive director of Feed Louisville, a nonprofit focused on reducing hunger and food waste.

The Congressional Budget Office projects the SNAP changes will reduce federal spending by roughly $187 billion over the next decade.

Previously, only able-bodied adults aged 18 to 54 without dependents under 18 were required to work at least 20 hours per week or face a three-month benefit limit over a three-year period. Under the new rules, that work requirement extends to adults up to age 64 who do not have a dependent child under 14, mandating 20 hours of paid or volunteer work weekly.

The legislation also shifts administrative costs: starting in October, states must cover 75% of SNAP administrative expenses, up from the previous 50%.

The impact varies widely by state. Arizona saw enrollment plummet by 50% between July 2025 and June 2026, while Kentucky experienced a 6% decline.

“I am concerned more people are going hungry in my state because of changes to [SNAP], impacting children and the elderly,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, wrote in a recent letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Rollins and former President Trump have characterized the enrollment drop as a success.

“Democrats don’t love” the decrease, Rollins said at a Minnesota farming festival in August. “But for those of us that love work and celebrate work and want people to work and not be on food stamps, it’s a pretty big win when we move 5 million people off of food stamps.”

Critics counter that grocery and gas prices have risen during Trump’s second term, compounding financial strain on low-income households.

“If people were getting paid enough, they would not be on the SNAP program,” said Gina Plata-Nino, director of SNAP at the Food Research and Action Center.

The Food Bank Council of Michigan, which operates a helpline for SNAP applications and local food resources, reported receiving more than three times its typical daily call volume after the changes took effect. This week, the organization temporarily suspended the helpline due to overwhelming demand.

The surge in need has also strained Feed Louisville, which converts surplus food from restaurants and farms into meals for partner agencies.

States have been really set up to fail

“We have always had enough food around,” Kamar said. “But now what we are seeing is every day the shelves are empty at the end of the day, so every bit of food that comes into our kitchen every day goes right back out to the community at the end of the day.”

Declining SNAP enrollment is also undermining schools’ ability to offer universal free meals. Under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), schools where at least 25% of students receive SNAP or other public benefits can serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting household applications. As fewer students qualify, schools lose eligibility. In the Houston Independent School District, 26 schools that previously provided universal free meals under CEP no longer meet the threshold, the Washington Post reported this week.

Anti-hunger advocates say employment data does not support the claim that more people have found jobs or seen wage growth sufficient to exit the program. The U.S. added 776,000 non-farm jobs between January 2025 and September 2026, compared with 2.6 million during the final 20 months of the Biden administration, according to FactCheck.org.

“We don’t have the data to suggest that there are more jobs suddenly out there. We just know fewer people are getting benefits,” said Sheril Kirshenbaum, chief external relations officer at the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

A USDA spokesperson downplayed the link between the restrictions and enrollment declines.

“The number of individuals receiving benefits is constantly changing and is not representative of any one policy,” the spokesperson stated in an email.

Further pressure looms. Beginning in October 2027, states with payment error rates above 6%—a metric the USDA says does not measure fraud—will be required to cover a portion of SNAP benefit costs. Paradoxically, states with error rates exceeding 13% received a delay in implementing this requirement.

“States will now be having to pay more for existing work while also finding funding for extra work to reduce the error rate,” said Joseph Llobrera, senior director of research for the food assistance team at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

That dynamic could lengthen processing times and delay aid for those in need, Kirshenbaum warned.

“States have been really set up to fail,” Llobrera said.

The USDA did not respond to questions about concerns that the policy changes have pushed some Americans into hunger.

For Sandra Scott, 58, of Louisville, SNAP benefits have been a lifeline. Homeless for much of her life, she relied on soup kitchens—often closed on weekends—until she enrolled four years ago. Scott has undergone six back surgeries, battles mental illness, and overcame a methamphetamine addiction two years ago. She now lives in subsidized housing, volunteers at The Table, a pay-what-you-can nonprofit restaurant, and is pursuing an emergency responder certification.

Asked what she would tell the administration about the SNAP changes, Scott said: “Why don’t you walk in one of our shoes, somebody in the community that doesn’t have anything, that wasn’t born into money or doesn’t have a job because it’s so hard to find or [who] can’t find affordable housing because it’s too high?”

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