States take on 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs as federal share drops to 25 percent

States became responsible for 75 percent of the cost of administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Oct. 1, as the federal share dropped to 25 percent. Ballotpedia reported that the change ends a 50-50 split between Washington and the states that had been in place since 1974.

The shift was written into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed in 2025. According to Ballotpedia’s tally, the Agriculture Department estimated that the change will cost states and counties about $17 billion over five years.

How states responded

Oct. 1 is the first day of the federal government’s 2027 fiscal year, which is when the new cost split began. Ballotpedia’s count of state responses is current as of Sept. 30, the day before the change took effect.

As of Sept. 30, Ballotpedia counted 40 states that had fully or partially appropriated money for the larger cost share. Four states had pending action or no explicit response. Two states, Arkansas and New Hampshire, declined to increase funding. Arkansas lawmakers did not appropriate additional money in 2026, and the New Hampshire House rejected SNAP funding proposals.

New York and North Carolina passed the costs entirely to counties, according to the same tally. Connecticut and Massachusetts increased SNAP funding in ways that were not explicitly tied to the cost shift.

Funding choices varied among states that did act. South Dakota appropriated $5.5 million, its full request. Wyoming appropriated $850,000 of the $6 million it requested. West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington appropriated money for nine-month portions of the year.

The size of the burden also differs widely by state. The Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy group, said in its analysis that the added cost starts at $3 million in Wyoming.

Arriving with other changes

The organization said the cost shift arrives while states are also carrying out other SNAP changes under H.R. 1, the 2025 budget law. It said states must redesign eligibility systems, rewrite policy manuals, retrain staff, update technology and modify notices. It also said states face declining rainy day funds, ending balances that have shrunk for three consecutive years, and additional federal cost transfers through Medicaid and disaster response.

The group said millions of eligible people have lost SNAP benefits since H.R. 1 took effect. It attributed the losses to expanded work documentation requirements, administrative burdens and staffing constraints. It called on Congress to delay the administrative cost shift.

What it looks like in Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that about 2 million Pennsylvanians received SNAP last summer, when the federal changes were signed. Since then, 234,000 people, or 12 percent, have lost benefits, according to the Inquirer’s reporting.

Work requirements accounted for 106,000 of those losses, including 36,000 in Philadelphia. About 69,000 of the people who lost benefits since July are under age 18, or 29 percent of the total.

Mackenzie Libbey, a supervising attorney at Community Legal Services, said: “What we’re seeing, and I think we’ll continue to see, is people getting cut off due to paperwork.”

The Inquirer reported that the maximum monthly SNAP benefit is $306 for a single person and $1,023 for a family of four.