Who lost SNAP, and what happened next?

Is this paid with your tax dollars? Yes, and the mix is changing. Here is how the money moves, so you can weigh it for yourself. SNAP benefits are paid with federal tax dollars. In July 2026, $6.75 billion in benefits reached households across the country for that one month, down from $7.80 billion in July 2025. The cost of running the program is split between Washington and the states, and the 2025 law moved more of it onto the states: since October 1, 2026, states pay 75 percent of that cost instead of 50 percent. Starting in October 2027, a state also pays part of the benefits when its error rate is 6 percent or higher: 5 percent of benefits at a rate from 6 to 8 percent, 10 percent at 8 to 10 percent, and 15 percent at 10 percent or more. The national error rate was 10.93 percent in 2024. Enter your address under Where you live to see your own state's figures. Some residents see this as states finally sharing the cost and the duty to get it right. Others see a new state bill that will push states to cut help. SourceLine takes no side. These are separate stages, never one total, and the decision stays with you and the people you elect.

SNAP has done what it was built to do. When a paycheck runs short, the groceries still come home. In July 2025, 41,603,048 people got SNAP. In July 2026, the latest month the U.S. Department of Agriculture has published, 36,087,667 did. That is 5,515,381 fewer people in one year, a drop of 13.3 percent (record, USDA, data as of October 9, 2026). The last two months are preliminary and can change as states report.

Black families have the most riding on it. In USDA's last count by race, for the 2023 fiscal year, about 25.7 percent of the people on SNAP were Black (record, USDA, as reported by the Food Research and Action Center). Black Americans are about 12 percent of the country. More White Americans than Black Americans get SNAP in raw numbers, but Black Americans are on SNAP at about twice their share of the population.

When food runs short in Black homes, it shows. In USDA's last hunger report, covering 2024, 24.4 percent of Black households were food insecure, which means they did not always have enough food for everyone in the home. For all households it was 13.7 percent. That report was the last one. In September 2025, USDA ended it.

No one has published who left SNAP by race. USDA reports the race of the people on SNAP once a year, about two years late, and it does not report who left. So this story shows what the record does show, where the record stops, and who decided each part.

What the law changed

The cut came from H.R. 1, the budget law often called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21), signed July 4, 2025. For SNAP it:

• extends the work time limit to adults ages 55 to 64 and to parents whose youngest child is 14 or older;
• holds down future increases in the Thrifty Food Plan, the grocery budget that sets SNAP benefits;
• raises the states' share of running costs to 75 percent from October 2026;
• makes states pay part of the benefits from October 2027, up to 15 percent, depending on their error rate.

The time limit means an adult covered by it can get SNAP for only three months in three years unless they work, train or volunteer at least 80 hours a month.

The Congressional Budget Office, the scorekeeper Congress uses for every bill, estimated the food aid part of the law cuts $186.65 billion from 2025 to 2034. It estimated the work rules alone would mean about 2.4 million fewer people on SNAP in an average month over those years (record, CBO, August 11, 2025). These are estimates, not counts.

The count came in bigger and faster. USDA's own figures show 5.5 million fewer people in the first year. CBO's figure is a ten year average, so the two do not match up exactly, and the real drop also reflects choices and mistakes by the states. The direction is plain.

CBO also showed who comes out ahead. In a letter dated August 11, 2025 to Representatives Brendan Boyle and Hakeem Jeffries and Senators Jeff Merkley and Chuck Schumer, it found that, averaged over 2026 to 2034, households in the lowest tenth of incomes lose about $1,200 a year, 3.1 percent of their income, "mainly attributable to reductions in in-kind transfers, such as Medicaid and SNAP." Households in the highest tenth gain about $13,600 a year, 2.7 percent of their income. The whole law adds $3.4 trillion to federal deficits from 2025 to 2034 (record, CBO, July 21, 2025). CBO does not break its estimates down by race. The record above shows who relies most on the programs being cut.

On this page: What the government says, and what critics say; Where the losses fell; What is measured now, and what is not; and Who decides, from your street to Washington

What the government says, and what critics say

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the changes are about work. "Today marks the start of a new era for SNAP—prioritizing work, career and technical education, and volunteering rather than idleness, excess spending, and misapplication of the law," she said in a USDA release on April 17, 2025. In the same release: "Many states have abused the system by requesting work requirement waivers." In spring 2026, as the drop passed 4 million, she said in interviews that much of it came from fraud and a better economy (reporting, Associated Press). SourceLine found no USDA figures that show how much of the drop came from fraud.

Critics point to the states and the rules. "That's a 10 percent drop in only eight months and the steepest drop in decades," Ty Jones Cox of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (research) said on June 23, 2026. She said some states have taken steps "that are making it far harder for eligible people to access the help they need to afford groceries."

Where the losses fell

Ranked by the number of people who left SNAP from July 2025 to July 2026, the five largest drops were Texas (about 684,000 fewer, 19.8 percent), Florida (about 630,000, 22.1 percent), Arizona (about 449,000, 50.8 percent), Illinois (about 407,000, 21.6 percent) and California (about 356,000, 6.5 percent). Ranked by percent, Arizona lost about half its rolls, then Louisiana and Nevada (23.3 percent each), Oklahoma (22.5 percent) and Florida (22.1 percent). Only Alaska went up. In Arizona, ProPublica (reporting) tied the drop to pressure to cut the error rate, the new work rules and the loss of about 160 state eligibility workers.

Your state. Every state but Alaska lost people from SNAP, by very different amounts. Enter your address under Where you live, below, to see your state's count, how your members of Congress voted, and who runs SNAP in your state.

State totals cannot tell us whether the people who left were Black, White or Latino. USDA publishes SNAP counts by county twice a year, and the first county figures after the law have not been posted. When they are, SourceLine will add your county to Where you live.

What is measured now, and what is not

Hunger. USDA ended its yearly hunger report in September 2025, after the 2024 figures. Its stated reason, in its own release of September 20, 2025: "These redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger." It said the reports "failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder." Members of Congress led by Representative Alma Adams answered on September 26, 2025: "The administration is choosing to eliminate the report instead of facing the consequences of its actions."

Without that report, no national government measure of hunger covers the time since the cuts. What we have is partial. The Urban Institute (research) found that in the 12 months to December 2025, 36.5 percent of Black adults were food insecure, against 18.1 percent of White adults. Food banks report more people at their doors; Feed More in central Virginia reported pantry visits up 20 percent (reporting, PBS). Those are local counts and cannot be added up into a national one. Whether hunger rose across the country in 2026 is not known, because the measure that would show it was ended.

Homelessness. The federal count of January 2025, released May 29, 2026, found 745,652 people homeless on one night, the first drop since 2016. About 33 percent were Black (record, Department of Housing and Urban Development, as summarized by the National Low Income Housing Coalition). That count was taken before the SNAP cuts, so it cannot show their effect. The 2026 national count has not been released. Atlanta's own count of January 28, 2026 rose 6 percent, and 85 percent of the people counted were Black (record, Partners for HOME). That report does not tie the rise to SNAP.

Who decides, from your street to Washington

You and your neighbors. You decide whether the people who decide hear from you, and you vote for every rung below.

Your county. In most states, the state runs SNAP through local offices. In some, counties run it under state rules. Either way, local food banks, churches and county budgets decide how much backup help there is. Ask your county leaders: what is the county doing for the families who lost SNAP here?

Your state. Your governor leads the state government that runs SNAP, and a state agency runs it day to day. Your legislature writes the budget that must now cover 75 percent of running costs and, from October 2027, any share of benefits the state owes because of its error rate. Ask your state legislators: will our state bring its error rate down without cutting eligible people off? Where you live, below, names your governor and the agency head.

Congress. H.R. 1 passed the Senate 51 to 50 on July 1, 2025, with the Vice President breaking the tie, and the House 218 to 214 on July 3, 2025. Every Democrat, and both independent senators, voted no. All but two House Republicans and all but three Republican senators voted yes. Where you live, below, shows how your own senators and your House member voted. Ask your member of Congress: what will you do about the families who lost SNAP, and will you bring back the national hunger count?

Washington's agencies. Secretary Rollins and USDA write the rules states follow, approve or deny waivers, and decided to end the hunger report. Ask: will USDA publish who is leaving SNAP, by state and by race?

What you can do

Know your numbers. Enter your address under Where you live, below, to see how many people in your state are on SNAP now against a year ago, and what share of Black households in your state, county and city got SNAP before the cuts. Those are the numbers to bring to the people who decide.

Next dates that matter. Most state legislatures meet in January 2027 and write the budgets that pay each state's new share. October 1, 2027 is when states start paying part of the benefits.

Where your voice is counted. Enter your ZIP code below to see your state's change and the people who decide for your address. Take one question to one of them, write the answer down, and keep it. When the next numbers come out, we will see what moved, and who moved it.

Facts in this story were checked October 29, 2026. SNAP counts for July 2026 are preliminary and can change as states report.