Overview
- Federal data for May 2026 show participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dropped from 42.2 million in May 2025 to 36.6 million, a fall of more than 13 percent in 12 months.
- The decline accelerated after President Donald Trump’s 2025 law expanded work requirements and tightened documentation and recertification rules for many groups who were previously exempt.
- State implementation problems and extra paperwork have forced eligible people off the rolls in some places while others apparently lost benefits because they missed deadlines or could not produce required documents.
- The impact varies widely by state with Arizona reporting the steepest drop (about 50–55 percent), and large declines also seen in Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, and Florida.
- Policy experts warn that a scheduled October 2027 rule requiring states with error rates above 6 percent to share benefit costs could push states to further restrict access, and advocates say schools and food banks cannot replace SNAP at scale.