New reports are stating that millions of individuals have now lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since the Trump administration implemented new work requirements that were passed into law in July 2025. Data reveals that there have been 3.5 million fewer enrollees for SNAP (food stamps) since that time, as the average number dropped from 42.1 million the previous fiscal year, to 38.5 million as of January 2026.
The new work requirements state that any able-bodied and mentally sound adults between the ages of 18-64 without dependents under the age of 14 years old, must be engaging in either paid or unpaid employment, volunteering, or participating in a government-run work program for a total of 80 hours a month, in order to receive benefits.
The requirements were passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill that was officially signed into law on July 4, 2025, by President Donald Trump. Previously, the age bracket impacted by work requirements was 18-54 year olds who had dependents under 18, according to information gleaned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the SNAP program.
According to The Daily Caller, the new changes to the food stamp program are the most expansive in several decades, a USDA spokesperson told the media. While illegal aliens have never been eligible to receive SNAP benefits, the expanded requirements have now restricted legal immigrants from having access to them as well.
The report then revealed that all states except for Alaska, Hawaii, and Kentucky have seen enrollment numbers drop. Hawaii, Kentucky, and Alaska have actually seen slight increases in enrollment, according to a SNAP tracker run by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Puerto Rico does not receive SNAP benefits, while the number of folks on the program in Guam has spiked up by a total of 23%.
Some states, such as Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee, have seen double-digit drops of less than 20%. Virginia is actively trying to connect affected individuals with jobs or volunteer opportunities in order to meet the new expanded requirements. The biggest overall decline comes from Arizona, which has experienced a 51% drop off in enrollment, including 181,000 fewer children.
The new requirements were implemented by the state government immediately upon the bill’s passing. The report said, “The expanded work requirements were primarily responsible for the drop, Brett Bezio, a spokesman for Arizona’s Department of Economic Security, which administers SNAP at the state level, told the Wall Street Journal.”
"*" indicates required fields
Colleen Heflin, a food insecurity expert working at Syracuse University who studies the issue of food insecurity, described the decline happening in Arizona as something unprecedented, though she stated that a “surge in food insecurity and its related negative consequences” could unfold in the future. A commenter on the Daily Caller website noted that it can be difficult to get off the program even after a person gains employment.
“A few years ago, while unemployed, my family went on the SNAP program. Once I got a job again, it was a struggle to get the SNAP people to drop us back off the program. They literally could not comprehend the idea that we only wanted to use the program while we had a family emergency,” the individual explained in their post.