SNAP’s New Reality: Benefit Adjustment Changes, Expanded Work Requirements, and Cost Shifts to States

Abstract

The One Big Beautiful Bill cuts federal SNAP spending by $186 billion over ten years through three major changes: capping benefit growth, expanding work requirements to nearly 2 million more recipients, and shifting billions in costs to states. Using nationally representative data from 43,776 SNAP households, we show how these changes will affect food security and state budgets.

Huang, Z., W. Zhang, and A. Hinds. 2025. "SNAP's New Reality: Benefit Adjustment Changes, Expanded Work Requirements, and Cost Shifts to States." [Draft Available Upon Request.]