Food Stamp (SNAP) Changes Oct. 1, 2026: New FY 2027 Amounts

Every October 1, the numbers behind SNAP — food stamps — are reset for the new federal fiscal year. On October 1, 2026, fiscal year 2027 begins, and almost every figure moves up a little: the most a household can get, the income limits, the deductions, and the savings limit for seniors.

This guide puts the old and new numbers side by side, explains what the change means for your own benefit, and points out the parts that matter most if you are 60 or older or have a disability.

The Short Answer

• The maximum benefit goes up in the 48 contiguous states and D.C.: $306 for one person and $1,023 for a family of four.
• The minimum benefit for one- and two-person households goes from $24 to $25.
• Income limits go up, so some people who were just over the line in September may qualify in October.
• The standard deduction and the cap on the housing deduction go up, which lowers countable income a little.
• The savings limit for households with someone 60+ or disabled goes from $4,500 to $4,750. The $3,000 limit for everyone else does not change.
• You usually do not need to apply again to get the new amounts. Your state applies them to your case.

These figures come from the USDA Food and Nutrition Administration’s FY 2027 cost-of-living memo to state agencies, dated August 21, 2026. It says “the COLAs are effective as of October 1, 2026.” The FY 2026 figures come from the USDA’s COLA information page.

FY 2026 vs FY 2027: The Full Table

All amounts are monthly and apply to the 48 contiguous states and D.C. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands use different amounts (see below).

Maximum monthly benefit

Household size	FY 2026 (Oct. 1, 2025 – Sept. 30, 2026)	FY 2027 (from Oct. 1, 2026)	Change
1	$298	$306	+$8
2	$546	$562	+$16
3	$785	$808	+$23
4	$994	$1,023	+$29
5	$1,183	$1,217	+$34
6	$1,421	$1,463	+$42
7	$1,571	$1,616	+$45
8	$1,789	$1,841	+$52
Each additional person (over 8)	+$218	+$225	+$7
Minimum benefit (1–2 people)	$24	$25	+$1

The memo adds a detail most summaries leave out: very large households have a ceiling. For FY 2027, the maximum for a household of 18 or more people is $3,887.

Income limits

Household size	Gross limit, 130% of poverty: FY 2026 → FY 2027	Net limit, 100% of poverty: FY 2026 → FY 2027
1	$1,696 → $1,729	$1,305 → $1,330
2	$2,292 → $2,345	$1,763 → $1,804
3	$2,888 → $2,960	$2,221 → $2,277
4	$3,483 → $3,575	$2,680 → $2,750
5	$4,079 → $4,191	$3,138 → $3,224
6	$4,675 → $4,806	$3,596 → $3,697
7	$5,271 → $5,421	$4,055 → $4,170
8	$5,867 → $6,037	$4,513 → $4,644
Each additional person (over 8)	+$596 → +$616	+$459 → +$474

The gross and net limits above also apply in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the memo. The USDA also publishes a 165%-of-poverty table, used for an elderly or disabled person who applies as a separate household: it rises from $2,152 to $2,195 for one person and from $4,421 to $4,538 for four.

Deductions and savings limits

Item	FY 2026	FY 2027
Standard deduction, 1–3 people	$209	$217
Standard deduction, 4 people	$223	$229
Standard deduction, 5 people	$261	$268
Standard deduction, 6 or more	$299	$308
Maximum excess shelter (housing) deduction	$744	$769
Homeless shelter deduction	$198.99	$205.66
Asset limit, household with someone 60+ or disabled	$4,500	$4,750
Asset limit, all other households	$3,000	$3,000 (no change)

For the full list of what counts as savings and which states waive the asset test, see our guide to SNAP asset limits.

What This Means for Your Own Benefit

A bigger maximum does not mean everyone gets the same raise. The federal rule, 7 CFR 273.10(e)(2)(ii), sets the formula: your benefit is “the maximum SNAP allotment for the household’s size reduced by 30 percent of the household’s net monthly income.”

That means two of the October changes can help you at once:

1. The maximum goes up. If your net income stays the same, your benefit goes up by about the same amount as the maximum.
2. The standard deduction goes up. That lowers your net income a little, so 30% of it is a little smaller.

A simple example. One person lives alone on $1,000 a month in Social Security and has no other deductions (to keep the math simple — most people also have housing costs).

	FY 2026	FY 2027
Income	$1,000	$1,000
Minus standard deduction	− $209	− $217
Net income	$791	$783
30% of net income, rounded up	$238	$235
Maximum for 1 person	$298	$306
Monthly benefit	$60	$71

States round in one of two ways allowed by the rule — rounding the 30% up to the next dollar (used above) or rounding the final benefit down — so your state’s figure may differ by a dollar.

Your real benefit can move differently. If your income changed, if your rent or utility costs changed, or if you get a Social Security raise, your state counts those too. Your state office applies the new amounts to your case; we cannot tell you your exact new benefit.

If You Are 60 or Older or Have a Disability

Three of these changes matter more for you than for other households:

• The savings limit rises to $4,750. This is only for households with at least one member who is 60 or older or disabled. In SNAP, “elderly” means 60, not 65. The limit for other households stays at $3,000.
• The gross income test does not apply to you. Under 7 CFR 273.9(a), a household with an elderly or disabled member only has to meet the net income limit — $1,330 for one person from October 1, 2026. So the 130% column is not the line you need to stay under.
• The $769 housing cap does not apply to you. The same rule says the shelter deduction is capped only “if the household does not contain an elderly or disabled member.” If you have high rent and utilities, your full excess shelter cost can be deducted. The October increase in the cap matters for other households, not yours.

Medical costs also matter. If you are 60+ or disabled, out-of-pocket medical costs over $35 a month can lower your net income — see our guide to the SNAP medical expense deduction for seniors.

Do You Need to Do Anything?

In most cases, no. Federal rule 7 CFR 273.12(e) calls the yearly update a “mass change” — a change that affects the whole caseload. It says states “shall implement these changes for all households at a specific point in time.”

Two things in that rule are worth knowing:

• You may not get a personal letter. The rule says “a notice of adverse action shall not be used for these changes.” Instead, states can announce them through “the news media,” posters in offices, or “general notices mailed to households.” So watch your October balance, not just your mailbox.
• You can still challenge it. The rule says a household “shall be entitled to request a fair hearing when it is aggrieved by the mass change.” If your October benefit looks wrong, call your state SNAP office first, then ask for a hearing if the numbers still don’t add up.

If you were turned down or stopped applying because your income was just over the limit, look at the new income table. The limits go up on October 1, 2026, so it may be worth applying again. Our main guide explains how to apply for SNAP in your state.

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands

These areas have their own amounts, and the memo prints full tables for each. A few points from it:

• Alaska: the maximum for a family of four ranges from $1,306 to $2,027, depending on whether you live in an urban or rural area.
• Hawaii: this is the one place where the maximum goes down. The memo says “the maximum allotment for a family of four in Hawaii will decrease to $1,655,” from $1,689 in FY 2026. Hawaii’s income limits and standard deduction still rise.
• Guam: $1,507 for a family of four. U.S. Virgin Islands: $1,315.

If you live in one of these areas, ask your state or territory SNAP office for its full table.

Other Help Worth Checking

• The basics of who qualifies and how to apply: Food Stamps (SNAP) Income Limits & How to Apply.
• Savings, retirement accounts and cars: Can You Get SNAP With Money in the Bank?
• Seniors with medical bills: SNAP medical expense deduction.
• What the card covers: what you can buy with SNAP.
• Seniors 60+ with low income may also qualify for a monthly senior food box (CSFP).

How We Checked This

Every figure in this guide came from a primary source we opened and read on September 25, 2026.

• The FY 2027 figures come from the USDA Food and Nutrition Administration’s cost-of-living memo to all state agencies, dated August 21, 2026. We read all seven pages: the cover letter (pages 1–2) and the tables for income limits (page 3), maximum benefits (pages 4–5), minimum benefits (page 5), deductions (page 6) and asset limits (page 7). Each number in our tables was matched against the memo’s own text — for example, “1 $306 2 $562 3 $808 4 $1,023” and “48 States and D.C. $217 $217 $229 $268 $308.”
• The FY 2026 figures come from the USDA’s COLA information page, which on September 25, 2026 still showed the tables “effective Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026.” They match the figures in our main SNAP guide, which were earlier checked against the Georgia and Texas state manuals.
• How the benefit is calculated, how the change is applied and the senior rules come from the full text of 7 CFR 273.9, 273.10 and 273.12, read through the eCFR’s official API (title 7, current through September 22, 2026).

Where the rules differ from what people repeat:

• “Everyone’s SNAP goes up by the same amount.” No. Only the maximum rises by a set amount. Your benefit is the maximum minus 30% of your own net income, so any change in your income or costs changes the result.
• “You’ll get a letter about the new amount.” Not necessarily. The federal rule says states do not use an individual notice of adverse action for the yearly update and may announce it through the news, office posters or a general mailing.
• “The housing deduction is capped for everyone.” It is not capped for households with a member who is 60+ or disabled, under 7 CFR 273.9(d)(6)(ii).
• “Benefits go up everywhere.” The memo says Hawaii’s maximum for a family of four goes down, from $1,689 to $1,655.

What we could not verify: the USDA’s web servers refuse ordinary requests from our location (HTTP 403), so the memo PDF and the USDA page were retrieved through a US-based browser service and read in full text. We did not read any state’s own announcement of the October 2026 changes, and we did not check how each state rounds benefits. The worked example is our own arithmetic using the federal formula; it leaves out the housing, medical and other deductions most households have. Your state agency makes the final decision on your case.

SNAP rules are set by federal law and run by each state. The dollar amounts above apply to the 48 contiguous states and D.C. unless noted, for the dates shown. All sources were verified on September 25, 2026.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice.