How to Apply for Food Stamps - Snap Program Application & Benefits Card

Most families can learn about the snap application and how to Apply for Food Stamps including individuals who meet the program’s income guidelines are eligible for the Snap Program or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Office Program). The size of a family’s SNAP benefit is based on its income and certain expenses. This paper provides a short summary of SNAP benefits and eligibility.

How to Find Out if You Can Get Help From SNAP
If you would like help from SNAP, contact your local human services office. The staff there will work with you to find out if you qualify.

Find the telephone number for your state’s office
Find your state’s SNAP website
Notes: SNAP is often referred to by its former name, the Food Stamp Program. Your state may use a different name.
SNAP has special rules following natural disasters.

Determining Eligibility
Under federal rules, to be eligible for benefits a household’s[1] income and resources must meet three tests:[2]

Gross monthly income — that is, household income before any of the program’s deductions are applied — generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line. For a family of three, the poverty line used to calculate SNAP benefits in federal fiscal year 2020 is $1,778 a month. Thus, 130 percent of the poverty line for a three-person family is $2,311 a month, or about $27,700 a year. The poverty level is higher for bigger families and lower for smaller families.[3]
Net income, or household income after deductions are applied, must be at or below the poverty line.
Assets must fall below certain limits: households without a member who is elderly or has a disability must have assets of $2,250 or less, and households with such a member must have assets of $3,500 or less.[4]
What counts as income? SNAP counts cash income from all sources, including earned income (before payroll taxes are deducted) and unearned income, such as cash assistance, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and child support.

What counts as an asset? Generally, resources that could be available to the household to purchase food, such as amounts in bank accounts, count as assets. Items that are not accessible, such as the household’s home, personal property, and retirement savings, do not count. Most automobiles do not count.[5] States have the option to relax the asset limits, and many have done so.

The Three-Month Time Limit
Many adults without dependents need to meet certain requirements to remain eligible for SNAP

A provision in the 1996 welfare reform law limited individuals who are over age 18 and under 50 to three months of SNAP benefits out of every three years unless they are working or in a work or training program 20 hours a week. Some individuals are exempt from this requirement, such as those who live with children in the household, those determined to be physically or mentally unfit for work, pregnant women, and others determined to be exempt from SNAP work requirements.

The law allows states to suspend the three-month limit in areas with high and sustained unemployment. The time limit applies in at least a portion of the state in most states. More information on the time limit generally is available at fns.usda.gov/snap/able-bodied-adults-without-de…. For detailed eligibility requirements in a given state, consult the state SNAP agency.

Who is not eligible? Some categories of people are not eligible for SNAP regardless of their income or assets, such as individuals who are on strike, all unauthorized immigrants, and certain lawfully present immigrants.[6] Unemployed childless adults who do not have disabilities are limited to three months of SNAP benefits every three years in many areas of the country, and states have broad authority to extend work requirements to many other SNAP households. (See box.)

Calculating Benefit Amounts
SNAP expects families receiving benefits to spend 30 percent of their net income on food. Families with no net income receive the maximum benefit, which is tied to the cost of the Department of Agriculture’s Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), a diet plan intended to provide adequate nutrition at a minimal cost. For all other households, the monthly SNAP benefit equals the maximum benefit for that household size minus the household’s expected contribution.[7]