Temporary Pandemic SNAP Benefits Will End in Remaining 35 States in March 2023

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) emergency allotments (EAs) — temporary benefit increases that Congress enacted to address rising food insecurity and provide economic stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic — will end after February 2023 issuances. This will result in a benefit cut for every SNAP household in the jurisdictions that still are paying EAs ― 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.^[1] Every household in those states will receive at least $95 a month less; some households, who under regular SNAP rules receive low benefits because they have somewhat higher, but still modest incomes, will see reductions of $250 a month or more. The average person will receive about $90 a month less in SNAP benefits.^[2]

The temporary benefits pushed back against hunger and hardship during COVID. A study estimated that EAs kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of 2021, reducing poverty by 10 percent ― and child poverty by 14 percent ― in states with EAs at the time. The estimated reduction in poverty rates due to EAs was highest for Black and Latino people.^[3]

The end of the temporary EAs will be a significant change that will increase food hardship for many individuals and families, given the modest amount of basic SNAP benefits and high recent inflation in food prices. Without the EAs, SNAP benefits will average only about $6.10 per person per day in 2023. That average daily benefit is about $1.35 higher per person per day this year than it would have been as a result of the recent adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is the basis of SNAP benefits. The Agriculture Department (USDA) adjusted the TFP, effective in fiscal year 2022, under a congressional mandate to reevaluate it; the resulting TFP better aligns SNAP benefits with the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet.^[4]

The timeframe for preparing for the end of EAs is short. Because this significant decrease will affect all SNAP households in the states that still are issuing EAs, it will be important for SNAP participants and local service providers, client advocate groups, retailers, and other stakeholders who communicate with SNAP participants to be aware of the timing of the reduction in benefits, and to take measures to minimize or mitigate the impact on households and on state agency operations.

The upcoming end of EAs also highlights the continued importance of ensuring that households participating in SNAP can claim allowable deductions for expenses such as rent, utilities, dependent care, child support payments, and medical expenses. SNAP benefits are higher for households with these kinds of expenses, which reduce the money they have available for food. Agencies’ efforts to ensure that households know about and claim these deductions will mean that their SNAP benefits more accurately reflect their food assistance needs.

Temporary SNAP Pandemic Benefit Increase Was Designed to Respond to Need Caused by COVID-19

Congress and President Trump enacted temporary SNAP EAs in March 2020 as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to “address temporary food needs” during the pandemic. The law gave USDA the authority to approve states’ requests for EAs for as long as the federal government’s public health emergency (PHE) was in effect and the state had issued an emergency or disaster declaration. All states used the option in 2020 and early 2021, though by late 2022 some 17 states were no longer paying EAs because their state emergency declarations had ended. An additional state, South Carolina, ended EAs after January 2023. (See Figure 1.)

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In the year-end government funding bill enacted in late December 2022, Congress terminated the temporary SNAP EAs after the February 2023 issuance, ending the tie to the federal PHE (which the President has announced will end on May 11.) This change was made as part of a bipartisan compromise that created a permanent Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program to provide grocery benefits to replace school meals for some 30 million children in low-income families when schools are closed in the summer ― a time when families with school-aged children are at higher risk for food insecurity. It is deeply unfortunate that, to pay for this important advance, policymakers chose to end the EAs on a date certain rather than leaving them in place until the public health emergency ends. In recent months the EAs have provided about $3 billion each month in additional SNAP benefits in the states in which they are in effect.

The year-end legislation left in place other temporary pandemic-related SNAP flexibilities, such as the suspension of the three-month time limit for unemployed adults without children in their homes and expanded eligibility for low-income college students, but these will end when the federal PHE ends. (See box, “Other Temporary SNAP COVID-Related Food Assistance That Will End With the End of the PHE.”)

Temporary Emergency Allotments Pushed Back Against Hunger During COVID

Early in the pandemic, hunger was poised to soar. Calls to “211” for help with food in the first two months of the pandemic were over four times greater than earlier in 2020.^[5] Use of food banks also increased.^[6] In the Great Recession, the share of households that were food insecure rose from 11.1 percent in 2007 to 14.7 percent in 2009, according to USDA estimates. Yet because of broad and robust relief measures (including the EAs) soon after COVID emerged, the typical annual measure of food insecurity in 2020 and 2021 held steady at just over 10 percent, statistically unchanged from the 2019 level.

One study estimated that EAs kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of 2021, reducing poverty by 10 percent ― and child poverty by 14 percent ― in states with EAs at the time. The reduction in poverty rates due to EAs was highest for Black and Latino people.^[7] Another study examined the changes in rates of food insufficiency ― a more severe condition of food hardship than food insecurity that was measured periodically over the course of the pandemic ― when states ended EAs and found that EAs reduced food insufficiency by 10 percent.^[8]

The temporary EAs have been the largest of the SNAP COVID-related relief measures, ultimately reaching all SNAP households in all states. Originally, beginning in March 2020, under a Trump Administration interpretation, a household’s EA was the amount that raised the household’s benefits to the SNAP maximum benefit for its household size. However, this approach left out the lowest-income SNAP households ― the 40 percent of SNAP households that already received the maximum benefit.^[9] The Biden Administration revised this policy, and, since April 2021 all households in states with EAs have received EAs of at least $95 a month. ^[10]

Size of SNAP Benefit Decrease Will Vary for Different Types of Households

Households in the states that are no longer issuing EAs will not experience any reduction in their SNAP benefits in March due to the federal change. As Table 1 shows, in the 35 states that still are issuing EAs, the size of the cut for any given household will depend on their household composition, income, and other circumstances because a household’s EA depends on the household size and regular SNAP benefit (which is in turn based on their income and expenses).^[11]

Every household’s benefits will be at least a $95 a month lower. Some households, those who under regular SNAP rules receive lower benefits because they have incomes that are somewhat higher, but still modest, will see reductions of $250 a month or more. The average per-person reduction will be about $90 a month. Benefits for households in Hawai’i, Guam, and the Virgin Islands may fall by slightly more than the average because their maximum benefit levels are higher due to the increased cost of food in those locations.^[12] (See Table 2 for estimated reductions in each state.)

The average decrease will vary by factors such as:

• Household composition. Households with children will lose $223 on average per month. For households with adults aged 60 and older, the average decrease will be $168, and for households with disabled people it will be $190. The average decrease is larger for households with children because they tend to have larger households.
• Income. Households with incomes at or below the poverty line, about 4 in 5 SNAP households, will lose an average of $142 per month. Lower-income households will lose less because their regular SNAP benefit is higher due to lower incomes or higher expenses that make it more difficult to afford enough food; their EA is lower as a result. Households with higher, but still low, incomes will lose more because they have somewhat more monthly income available for food, giving them a smaller regular SNAP benefit and a higher EA.
• Household size. One-person households will lose an average of $132 per month, while three-person households will see a larger average reduction of $197 per month. Larger households will lose more because the SNAP benefit is scaled to household size to account for each person’s needs.

These estimated averages conceal wide variation even among households of the same size. For example, the average decrease among one-person households will be $132 per month. The lowest-income households, who would have received the maximum SNAP benefit in the absence of EAs, will lose $95. (This is about 4 in 10 one-person households.) By contrast, nearly one-sixth of one-person households would have received the minimum amount of SNAP benefits in the absence of the EAs and will lose much more when the EAs end ― over $250 per month.^[13] (See Figure 2.)    
 

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There is similar variation in the amount of cut households of other sizes will see. For example, the average three-person household will see their benefit decrease by an estimated $197 per month. Like one-person households, three-person households receiving the maximum benefit under regular program rules (about one-third of three-person households) will lose $95. However, nearly 1 in 5 households (lower-benefit households receiving less than $400 in regular monthly SNAP benefits) will lose more than $440 per month in EAs on average. (See Figure 3.)

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SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustments and Thrifty Food Plan Revision Will Soften Cliff When Emergency Allotments End

Though all SNAP households will experience a significant reduction in benefits when EAs end, two factors will help to ensure that their regular SNAP benefit still comes closer to reflecting the cost of a healthy diet.

The first is the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustments, which affect maximum benefits, income limits, and deductions used to calculate a household’s SNAP benefit level. In the years leading up to the recent period of higher inflation, these cost-of-living adjustments typically resulted in modest changes to a household’s SNAP benefits. However, because of the high recent inflation in food prices and other goods and services, the fiscal year 2023 cost-of-living adjustments, which went into effect on October 1, 2022, were higher.

SNAP maximum benefits increased by 12 percent. For a family of three, this raised the regular maximum SNAP benefit by $88 per month, from $652 to $740. Though the annual cost-of-living adjustment is critical to ensuring that the purchasing power of SNAP benefits does not erode over time, it is based on food price changes over the 12 months ending the preceding June. This means that these automatic adjustments can significantly lag food price increases when inflation is high. Indeed, from June 2022 through December 2022 food prices rose another 3 percent.

Separate from the cost-of-living adjustment, households’ regular SNAP benefits more closely reflect the cost of a healthy diet due to a recent revision to the TFP, which is the basis for SNAP benefits. In the bipartisan 2018 farm bill, Congress directed USDA to update the TFP to account for current food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns, and modern dietary guidance. This comprehensive update to the TFP — the first since the 1970s — took effect in October 2021 and resulted in a 21 percent increase in maximum SNAP benefits. Because of the TFP revision, the average regular SNAP benefit when EAs end will drop from about $9.00 per person per day to about $6.10. Without the TFP revision, the average regular benefit would be only about $4.75 per person per day.^[14]

Preparing for the End of Emergency Allotments

The timeframe for preparing for the end of EAs is short. The last EA issuances will occur in February in most states, though a handful of states will not issue the February emergency allotment until sometime in March. Because this decrease will be significant and affect all SNAP households in the states that still are paying EAs, it will be important for SNAP participants and local service providers, client advocate groups, retailers, and other stakeholders who communicate with SNAP participants to be aware of the timing of the reduction in benefits and to take measures to minimize its impact on households and on state agency operations.

Many states have already published outreach materials explaining how, when, and why benefits will change for households in their state, including materials in multiple languages. Clear communication to SNAP households will help reduce confusion and may reduce client inquiries and hearing requests to state agencies when EAs end.

Key messages to consider communicating to SNAP households include:

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal program allowed [state] to give you extra SNAP benefits each month in addition to your regular benefits. These temporary benefits are ending after the February issuance.
• We know that shopping and eating with reduced benefits will be difficult, but this change is required by federal law and we cannot stop it.
• You will receive [or just “received” if the issuance has gone out] these extra benefits for the final time on [date]. After that, you will only receive your regular benefit amount.
• Unused SNAP benefits roll over from month to month, so you can continue to use any benefits you have saved up.
• This change does not affect your eligibility for benefits. You will continue to receive your regular SNAP benefit until the end of your certification period as long as you are eligible.
• Your regular SNAP benefits may rise if you have recently lost income, experienced an increase in certain expenses, such as housing or child care costs, or if someone in your household is aged 60 or older or has a disability and medical expenses over $35 per month. Tell [state or local agency] if your household has recently experienced these changes or if you think the state doesn’t have the current information about your income or these expenses.

Other key information may include:

• How participants can check their regular SNAP benefit amount and current balance.
• Whom participants should contact if they have further questions or wish to provide updated information.
• Where participants can go if they need additional resources for food, including information about the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for households that include pregnant or postpartum people or children under the age of 5. (See box, “Helping Families With Young Children.”)

The upcoming end of EAs also highlights the continued importance of ensuring households can claim allowable deductions for expenses such as rent, utilities, dependent care, child support payments, and medical expenses. This will ensure that the regular SNAP benefit households receive most accurately reflects the available resources they have for food.

Because most states have been providing EAs for nearly three years, many households have never experienced the program under standard rules. Households may not have been recently screened for deductions and may not be aware that losing income or experiencing an increase in certain household costs could increase their regular SNAP benefit. While ensuring households can fully apply appropriate deductions is critical to reducing the hardship they will experience when EAs end, improving and streamlining state processes to screen for and verify household expenses can be an ongoing, longer-term project for states.