Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment is continuing to drop as tightened work requirements mean more people are losing their food stamp benefits. SNAP, the country’s largest food assistance program, helps low- and no-income households cover grocery costs. The continued fall in participation coincides with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in July 2025, which tightened eligibility rules and expanded work requirements.
The Trump administration has also pointed to anti-fraud efforts as being a reason for continually falling participation. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows some 36.6 million people received benefits in May 2026, down from 37.07 million in April 2026.
Since May 2025, when there were 42.3 million Americans enrolled in the federal aid program, some 5.7 million people have lost their benefits. Compared with July 2025, enrollment has fallen by around 5.5 million people. Newsweek has contacted the USDA for comment via email and is awaiting a reply.
Of the 50 states, 49 recorded fewer participants in May 2026 than in July 2025. Alaska was the sole exception, with a modest increase to its number of SNAP recipients. The steepest proportional decline was in Arizona, where participation fell from 882,419 to 409,584, a drop of 472,835 people, or 53.6 percent.
Georgia had the second-largest percentage fall, down 37.3 percent, from 1.89 million to 1.19 million. Nevada and Louisiana both fell by just over 21 percent, while Florida and Oklahoma declined by 19.6 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. In percentage terms, the biggest drops were: Measured by the actual number of participants, Georgia saw the largest reduction, losing about 705,600 recipients.
Texas lost roughly 564,300, Florida 558,500, Arizona 472,800, California 333,100 and Illinois 322,600. Twenty-three states have seen participation fall by at least 10 percent, while 11 have recorded falls of 15 percent or more. The median state decline is roughly 8.8 percent.
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