SNAP Benefits Calculator

A SNAP benefits calculator runs the same arithmetic your state agency uses: subtract the allowed deductions from your household's income to reach net income, take 30% of that, and subtract it from the maximum allotment for your household size. A parent with two children who earns $1,800 a month, pays $1,000 in rent, $400 in utilities and $200 for child care ends up with net income of $254 and an estimated benefit of $731 a month under the FY 2027 figures.

Food is one line of a tight budget, and two sister tools cover the next ones. The Section 8 Rent Calculator estimates your share of the rent under a HUD Housing Choice Voucher, which runs its own 30% rule on a different definition of income. The Budget Calculator splits take-home pay into needs, wants and savings, so you can see what the SNAP benefit frees up.

How the SNAP benefit formula works

SNAP assumes a household can spend about 30% of its own net income on food and covers the rest of the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan, USDA's budget for a nutritious low-cost diet. The maximum allotment is that plan's monthly cost for your household size, and your benefit is the maximum minus your expected contribution:

Two rounding rules matter. The 30% contribution is rounded up to the next whole dollar, so $76.20 becomes $77. And an eligible household of one or two people never receives less than the minimum benefit, $25 a month in the 48 states and DC, even when the formula gives less. A household of three or more whose formula result is zero receives nothing, because its net income already covers the full Thrifty Food Plan.

FY 2027 SNAP income limits and maximum allotments

These four columns decide most cases in the 48 states and DC. The gross limit is 130% of the 2026 HHS poverty guideline and the net limit is 100%, both per month.

The per-person increase applies to households of 9 to 17 people; the allotment for 18 or more is capped at $3,887. Every figure took effect on October 1, 2026, when USDA's annual cost-of-living adjustment replaced the FY 2026 values:

The adjustments track inflation. Since P.L. 119-21, the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan is updated every October by the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers over the 12 months ending in June, and future re-evaluations of the plan may not raise its cost.

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Food and housing cost more outside the contiguous states, so USDA publishes separate allotments, deductions and shelter caps for these areas. The calculator includes all of them:

Alaska and Hawaii also have higher income limits: a family of four may gross up to $4,469 a month in Alaska and $4,112 in Hawaii, with net limits of $3,438 and $3,163. Guam and the Virgin Islands use the 48-state income limits. USDA assigns Alaska's urban and rural zones, and your state agency tells you which one applies. The difference adds up: a Hawaii family of four earning $2,400 a month with $1,800 rent and $450 in utilities would receive an estimated $1,481, against $746 for the same family in the 48 states, because both the allotment and the shelter cap are higher.

Worked example: a working parent with two children

A single parent with two children in one of the 48 states earns $1,800 a month before taxes, pays $1,000 rent, uses a $400 standard utility allowance and spends $200 a month on after-school care so she can work. No one is 60 or older.

1. Gross income test: $1,800 is below the $2,960 limit for three people.
2. Earned income deduction: 20% of $1,800 is $360, leaving $1,440.
3. Standard deduction: $1,440 − $217 = $1,223.
4. Dependent care: $1,223 − $200 = $1,023 adjusted income.
5. Excess shelter: shelter costs of $1,400 minus half of $1,023 ($511.50) leaves $888.50, which is capped at $769.
6. Net income: $1,023 − $769 = $254, well under the $2,277 net limit.
7. Benefit: 30% of $254 is $76.20, rounded up to $77, so $808 − $77 = $731 a month, or $8,772 over a year.

The shelter cap cost this family money: without it the deduction would have been $888.50 and the benefit $767. Only households with a member who is 60 or older or disabled escape the cap.

Worked example: a 68-year-old living on Social Security

A retired widower receives $1,250 a month in Social Security, pays $700 rent and $300 for utilities, and spends $135 a month out of pocket on prescriptions and Medicare premiums.

1. No gross income test: he is over 60, so only the net limit applies.
2. Standard deduction: $1,250 − $217 = $1,033. Social Security is unearned income, so there is no 20% deduction.
3. Medical deduction: the part of $135 above $35 is $100, leaving $933 adjusted income.
4. Excess shelter: $1,000 minus half of $933 ($466.50) is $533.50, with no cap for an elderly household.
5. Net income: $933 − $533.50 = $399.50, under the $1,330 net limit.
6. Benefit: 30% of $399.50 is $119.85, rounded up to $120, so $306 − $120 = $186 a month.

Documenting medical costs pays more than it seems. For him, each extra dollar of verified medical spending above $35 adds about 45 cents to the benefit: it lowers adjusted income by a dollar, and because half of adjusted income is subtracted from shelter costs, it also raises his uncapped shelter deduction by 50 cents.

SNAP benefits at different earnings

The table follows a family of three in the 48 states with $1,000 rent, a $400 utility allowance and no other deductions as earnings rise. The last column assumes a state that uses broad-based categorical eligibility with a gross limit of 200% of poverty ($4,554 a month for three).

Three patterns stand out. Up to about $1,230 of earnings the capped shelter deduction wipes out all remaining income and the family gets the full $808. From there each extra $100 earned costs about $24 while the shelter cap binds (up to about $1,850), then about $36 once the deduction starts shrinking. And under the federal 130% test the benefit falls from $260 to nothing when earnings move from $2,960 to $3,000, a cliff that a higher state limit removes. At $4,000 the family still passes a 200% gross limit, but 30% of its net income exceeds the $808 maximum, so a three-person household receives no benefit.

Small households have a floor instead of a zero. A single worker earning $1,600 a month with $600 rent and no utility costs computes to just $7, so the $25 minimum applies.

Key terms: every deduction explained

• Gross income: all countable earned and unearned income of everyone who buys and prepares food together, before taxes and other payroll deductions.
• Earned income deduction: 20% of wages and net self-employment income. It does not apply to Social Security, SSI, unemployment or child support received.
• Standard deduction: a flat amount by household size: $217 for one to three people, $229 for four, $268 for five and $308 for six or more in the 48 states and DC.
• Dependent care deduction: the actual cost of caring for a child or an incapacitated adult when it is needed for work, job search, training or school. There is no dollar cap.
• Excess medical deduction: out-of-pocket medical costs of members who are 60 or older or disabled, above $35 a month: prescriptions, insurance and Medicare premiums, dental care, glasses and transportation to treatment.
• Child support deduction: legally obligated child support paid to someone outside the household. Some states exclude it from income instead, which has a similar effect.
• Shelter costs: rent or mortgage, property taxes, insurance on the structure, and utilities: heating, cooling and cooking fuel, electricity, water, sewer, trash collection and the fees for one telephone.
• Standard utility allowance (SUA): a flat utility figure each state sets and many use instead of actual bills. Enter it in the utilities field if your state uses one.
• Excess shelter deduction: shelter costs above half of adjusted income, capped at $769 a month unless a member is 60 or older or disabled.
• Homeless shelter deduction: an optional flat $205.66 for homeless households with some shelter costs, used instead of actual costs unless those are higher.

Resources, categorical eligibility and the minimum benefit

Under federal rules a household may hold up to $3,000 in countable resources such as cash and bank balances, or $4,750 if a member is 60 or older or disabled. Your home and lot, most retirement accounts and the resources of members who receive SSI or TANF do not count, and states set their own vehicle rules within federal limits.

Most states go further through broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE): a household that qualifies for a non-cash benefit funded by TANF or state maintenance-of-effort money is categorically eligible, which lets the state use a higher gross income limit, up to 200% of poverty, and usually drop the resource test. Categorical eligibility does not raise the benefit, which still comes from net income. That is why the calculator asks for your state's gross limit under More options and why it can report "eligible, but $0" for larger households with higher incomes. One- and two-person households that are eligible receive at least the $25 minimum.

What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed for SNAP

Public Law 119-21, signed on July 4, 2025, changed several rules that the income formula does not show:

• Work requirement age: able-bodied adults without dependents aged 18 through 64 (previously 18 through 54) can receive SNAP for only 3 months in 36 unless they work or join a work program at least 20 hours a week.
• Exemptions: the parent exemption now covers only adults responsible for a child under 14 rather than under 18; the temporary exemptions for veterans, homeless people and former foster youth ended; new exemptions cover Indians, Urban Indians and California Indians as defined in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
• Waivers: states can waive the time limit only for areas with unemployment of 10% or more, with a separate rule for Alaska and Hawaii.
• Heating and cooling allowance: a LIHEAP energy assistance payment now qualifies a household for the heating and cooling utility allowance automatically only if it has an elderly or disabled member. Other households must actually pay heating or cooling costs.
• Internet: internet costs no longer count as shelter costs and cannot be built into utility allowances.
• Non-citizens: SNAP is limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (generally after a 5-year wait, with exceptions such as children under 18), Cuban and Haitian entrants and citizens of the Compact of Free Association nations. Refugees and asylees, for example, now qualify only once they become permanent residents.
• State costs: states pay a larger share of administrative costs from FY 2027 and, from FY 2028, between 0% and 15% of benefit costs depending on their payment error rates. These shifts do not change the benefit formula.

How to use this calculator

1. Pick where you live and enter everyone who buys and prepares food together. Spouses and most children under 22 count in the same household even if they shop separately.
2. Answer the age and disability question. A yes removes the gross test and the shelter cap and opens the medical field.
3. Enter monthly income before taxes. Convert weekly pay by multiplying by 4.3 and every-other-week pay by 2.15, the factors in the federal rules (some states use their own).
4. Enter shelter costs, using your state's standard utility allowance if it has one, plus dependent care and any child support you pay.
5. Open More options if your state uses a higher gross income limit, if you have savings near the limit, or if you are homeless.
6. Read the result and the step-by-step table, then try the earnings table to see how a raise or extra hours would change the amount.

The calculator is built for applicants checking whether an application is worth filing, current recipients planning for a raise or a move, caseworkers and navigators who want a quick second opinion, and family members helping an older relative apply. It is also useful for comparing how the same budget fares in Alaska, Hawaii or the territories.

Tips for getting the estimate right

• Use gross pay from your pay stubs, not take-home pay. Taxes and insurance withheld from a paycheck are not SNAP deductions.
• Many states use a set utility amount instead of actual bills. Look up your state's standard utility allowance on its SNAP agency website and enter that figure.
• Keep receipts for child care and, for members 60 or older or disabled, for medical costs. Unverified expenses are not deducted.
• Report child support you are ordered to pay with proof of payment; it reduces countable income in every state.
• If you are near the 130% line, check whether your state uses a higher BBCE limit before deciding not to apply.
• Apply even if you are unsure. Benefits are paid back to the date the application was filed, and a denial notice explains how the agency counted your income.

Limitations

The estimate applies federal FY 2027 rules to the figures you enter. It does not know your state's utility allowance, standard medical deduction, BBCE limit or vehicle rules, and it does not check the work requirement, student rules, immigration status or sanctions. It treats income as steady, while agencies average irregular earnings and prorate the first month from the application date. States that compute in whole dollars can land a dollar away. Treat the result as a planning number and the state agency's notice as the decision.

Related calculators

• For your share of rent under a housing voucher, use the Section 8 Rent Calculator.
• For the earned income credit that arrives with a tax refund, use the EITC Calculator.
• To plan a monthly budget around the benefit, use the Budget Calculator.
• To see what rent fits your income, use the Rent Affordability Calculator.
• To convert hourly or annual pay into the monthly gross figure SNAP uses, use the Salary Calculator.
• For the federal credit for children, use the Child Tax Credit Calculator.

Sources

• USDA Food and Nutrition Administration, SNAP Fiscal Year 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (memo of August 21, 2026: allotments, income standards, deductions, resource limits).
• USDA Food and Nutrition Administration, SNAP Eligibility (October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027; deductions, resources, BBCE, expedited service).
• USDA Food and Nutrition Administration, SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information.
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 7 CFR 273.9 (income and deductions) and 7 CFR 273.10 (net income order, 30% rounding, minimum benefit).
• USDA Food and Nutrition Service, SNAP Provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (September 4, 2025) and the ABAWD exceptions memo (October 3, 2025).
• USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Internet expenses and energy assistance Q&A (May 8, 2026) and the non-citizen eligibility memo.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE, 2026 Poverty Guidelines (basis for the income limits and the higher state limits).