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How SNAP Program Cuts Will Affect New Jersey
- Robbie Economou
- Oct 15
- 19 min read
Updated: Oct 17
The SNAP Program will face scheduled cuts between now and 2028. Here's what New Jersey Families who use SNAP can expect and when.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed by the U.S. Congress in the Summer of 2025 will result in a series of cuts, reductions, and administrative changes to the SNAP program. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this bill will lead to over 2.7 million people nationwide completely losing access to SNAP over the next year and that $187 billion dollars in total were cut from the program through 2034. Additionally, the Urban Institute reports that over 50% of the 827,000 people who use SNAP in New Jersey will soon see their benefits directly reduced. The 114,000 New Jersey families most impacted by this bill will lose an average of $182 dollars in monthly SNAP benefits. These cuts and reductions to the SNAP program are projected to add additional strain to food pantries, which are already seeing their usage skyrocket.
The Good Food Bucks program and other similar SNAP-doubling programs were not affected by the Summer Congressional megabill. The Good Food Bucks program will continue to be a support for families using SNAP benefits in New Jersey to help reduce the price of fresh fruits and vegetables. Using Good Food Bucks to get double the amount of fruits and vegetables at participating local grocery stores, farmers markets, or farm stands can help families continue to get the most out of their monthly SNAP budget. Click here to read our blog post "Amidst SNAP Cuts, Good Food Bucks Continue to Serve NJ Families".
This guide will help explain the changes that were made under the Summer Congressional megabill, when those changes will take place in New Jersey, and which individuals in New Jersey will see their benefits removed or reduced due to these changes. Click here for an abbreviated one-page summary of these changes to the SNAP program.
What is SNAP? Who is Eligible for SNAP in New Jersey?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, provides monthly benefits for spending on food to low-income and food-insecure households and individuals. The program has historically received commendation for its capacity to help reduce hunger for families and children. The monthly benefit amount depends on household size and income level. Benefits are distributed through an electronic benefits transfer card (EBT), which works like a debit card, and is called a Families First card in New Jersey. These benefits can be used on food items at your local grocery store, corner store, or farmers market – but not for prepared meals like at a restaurant.
Individuals are eligible to receive SNAP benefits if their monthly income is lower than the max allowable income. The max allowable income depends on the household size, and is set at 185% of the federal poverty level – so only individuals under or just over the federal poverty level are eligible for the program. For an individual, they can receive SNAP benefits in New Jersey if their monthly income is $2,322 a month or less, and this amount increases by $830 a month per family member. You can refer to this guide to find the exact max allowable income per household size in New Jersey.
Starting Now, Upon Recertification: New Work Requirements and Benefit Limits
New Work Requirements
An individual typically cannot receive SNAP benefits for over three months without meeting the work requirement of being employed for at least 80 hours a month. There are a series of statuses that an individual or family can have that would provide them a waiver from these work requirements, meaning that they could receive SNAP benefits for longer than the 3-month limit. These waived statuses include elderly adults, disabled adults, and adults with children.
The Summer congressional megabill added work requirements to more groups of people, meaning that many who were previously waived from the 3-month limit will now have it apply. The following categories of people were previously excluded from these work requirements, but will now only be able to receive SNAP for up to 3 months without employment.
Families with children between the ages of 14 to 17
Any adults between the ages of 54 and 64
Veterans
People experiencing homelessness
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who were previously in foster care
These changes will start when anyone using SNAP needs to get recertified for SNAP. In New Jersey a household can receive SNAP benefits for 12 months before needing to be recertified, or 24 months for any household where every adult is elderly and/or disabled. If these work requirements now apply to you, you will keep receiving benefits for 12 months from when you were last certified, and then for another 3 months after that date. Anyone who signs up for the SNAP program for the first time will now be subject to these work requirements, if they apply. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over 1.1 million people nationwide will lose their SNAP benefits this year because of these work requirement changes.
The 3-month limit for SNAP previously did not apply to any families using SNAP in New Jersey in 20 out of 21 counties, due to a regional waiver that New Jersey applied for. This waiver will expire on November 2nd, 2025 – see the below section on the 3-month limit for more information.
Anyone on the SNAP program who will now have these work requirements applied to them should identify if they have another separate eligibility for the waiver. For example, someone who is between the age of 54 to 64 would previously have been waived from the limit, but will no longer be waived unless they have a disability or a child under the age of 14. To help families who will now be affected by work requirements, the NJ Assembly leadership has proposed a bill for a new NJ Office of Volunteerism. This new office will help connect families using SNAP who are unable to work full-time with opportunities to volunteer, which will also fulfill these requirements.
Unintended Impacts of Work Requirements
These work requirements are intended to help encourage families to find work, but The Hamilton Project found in their research that work requirements have never led to higher employment or earnings among recipients of SNAP. Instead, they just deepen poverty and lead to more hunger. They also lead to higher administrative burdens for state agencies and more paperwork needed for SNAP beneficiaries. Ensuring food security and nutrition for a family is the first step to helping adults self-actualize and to find a job that works for them. Work requirements make hunger a punishment for struggling to find a full-time job.
Work requirements can also lead to a “benefits cliff”, where someone gains a job and now has an income that is just over the requirement for a program like SNAP, but is still living close to the federal poverty level. Someone who makes $29,000 a year in New Jersey is living close to the poverty line, but is completely ineligible for SNAP benefits, free school meals for their children, WIC (depending on family size), Medicaid, and many other similar benefit programs. Often a raise or a job change can result in a net loss in income, as the person receives a higher wage but loses all of their benefits by exceeding the income limit.
New Benefit Limits
The Summer Congressional Megabill also limited how much some families can receive in monthly SNAP benefits. These limits will also begin to apply when a SNAP recipient has to get re-certified for SNAP.
Previously, any families who used SNAP and received over $20 a month from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or other related energy assistance programs were automatically eligible to receive more in monthly SNAP benefits. This automatic eligibility will now only be the case for households with an elderly or disabled family member, meaning that all other households will need to provide separate documentation of their utility costs to receive the same benefits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that anyone this applies to will lose around $100 per month in SNAP benefits.
The Summer Congressional Megabill also restricts internet expenses from being used to determine monthly housing expenses, which will decrease monthly SNAP benefits as well. According to the Congressional Budget Office this will decrease SNAP benefits by around $10 per month per household, but this change will affect 65% of all families who use SNAP.
October 2025: SNAP-Ed Program Ending
As of October 1st, 2025, the SNAP-Ed Program has been completely terminated. The Summer Congressional megabill eliminated funding for the program, meaning that the program will no longer exist in New Jersey and there will be no future classes or events from the program.
The SNAP-Ed program was the largest nutrition education program in the nation. SNAP-Ed provided funding for classes about healthy eating, cooking wholesome meals, physical activity, shopping on a budget, treatment for chronic diseases, and a variety of other types of classes that supported healthy living. These lessons were nutritionist-led and served around 1.8 million people annually. The SNAP-Ed program served anyone with an income below or just above the poverty level, not just those enrolled with SNAP. Often SNAP-Ed programming helped teach nutrition education lessons for children in schools, particularly in food desert regions where families lack easy access to nutritious food.
Nutrition education programming has demonstrated strong positive effects for health and well-being, particularly for young people. Studies show that being taught adequate cooking skills by your teenage years is correlated with more balanced diets and an increased likelihood to cook regularly as an adult. A review of SNAP-Ed called the program “a pillar of the nation's public health infrastructure” and found that the program has been particularly useful during public crises, such as the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Flint water crisis. Thousands of families in New Jersey will no longer benefit from these nutrition education programs due to the funding elimination for SNAP-Ed.
November 2025: 3-Month Limit for SNAP Starts Statewide in New Jersey
The USDA has not yet provided full guidance on all aspects of this change to SNAP as of October 15th, 2025. This blog post will be updated once this guidance is provided.
Typically, adults are restricted to receiving SNAP benefits for only 3 months at a time before being required to be employed or volunteering at least 80 hours a month, or needing to possess a status where these work requirements are waived (see the section above on work requirements to find a list of statuses eligible for a waiver). However, the state of New Jersey had applied for and been approved for a waiver of this time limit for all families using SNAP in 20 out of 21 counties in New Jersey. New Jersey qualified for this “ABAWD (Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents) waiver” for every county except for Morris county due to the unemployment rates in these regions. This “ABAWD waiver” meant that before November 2025, no families in New Jersey were subject to the 3-month limit for SNAP, except for families residing in Morris county.
However, the Summer Congressional megabill significantly raised the required unemployment rate to 10% to be eligible for the “ABAWD waiver”. Only 10 counties in the entire United States will now be eligible to apply for these waivers, and zero counties in New Jersey will be eligible. New Jersey’s ABAWD waiver was meant to expire on February 1st, 2026, but the USDA announced this month that all state waivers will expire early and will be terminated on November 2nd, 2025. All New Jersey families, starting on November 2nd, 2025, will now be subject to the 3-month limit for SNAP without meeting the work requirements or having a qualifying status that waives the work requirements.
Thousands of families in New Jersey will suddenly be impacted by the 3-month limit for SNAP due to the removal of this waiver in November. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that roughly 1 million people nationwide will lose access to SNAP benefits due to these waiver changes. The change to the ABAWD waiver requirement will have the most significant impact on SNAP participation of any of the changes made by the Summer Congressional megabill.
We recommend that advocates for food access in New Jersey start notifying their communities about this fast-approaching change to the SNAP program. To help families who will now be affected by work requirements, the NJ Assembly leadership has proposed a bill for a new NJ Office of Volunteerism. This new office will help connect families using SNAP who are unable to work full-time with opportunities to volunteer, which will also fulfill these requirements.
Unintended Impacts of Work Requirements
These work requirements are intended to help encourage families to find work, but The Hamilton Project found in their research that work requirements have never led to higher employment or earnings among recipients of SNAP. Instead, they just deepen poverty and lead to more hunger. They also lead to higher administrative burdens for state agencies and more paperwork needed for SNAP beneficiaries. Ensuring food security and nutrition for a family is the first step to helping adults self-actualize and to find a job that works for them. Work requirements make hunger a punishment for struggling to find a full-time job.
Work requirements can also lead to a “benefits cliff”, where someone gains a job and now has an income that is just over the requirement for a program like SNAP, but is still living close to the federal poverty level. Someone who makes $29,000 a year in New Jersey is living close to the poverty line, but is completely ineligible for SNAP benefits, free school meals for their children, WIC (depending on family size), Medicaid, and many other similar benefit programs. Often a raise or a job change can result in a net loss in income, as the person receives a higher wage but loses all of their benefits by exceeding the income limit.
Starting Soon: Some Immigrants with Legal Status to Lose SNAP Benefits
The USDA has not yet provided full guidance on all aspects of this change to SNAP as of October 15th, 2025. This blog post will be updated once this guidance is provided.
Many legal immigrants who previously could receive SNAP benefits will no longer be eligible for the program due to changes from the Summer Congressional megabill. This does not include anyone who has citizenship status or lawful permanent residency in the United States. The list below summarizes which groups of people are still eligible for SNAP and which groups are no longer eligible for the program.
Still eligible to receive SNAP:
Any immigrants who have U.S. citizenship
Lawful permanent residents
Anyone with Cuban or Haitian entrant statuses
Anyone under a Compact of Free Association
Were previously eligible to receive SNAP, but are no longer eligible:
Refugees
Anyone granted asylum
Certain immigrants who are survivors of domestic violence or sex trafficking
Anyone else granted humanitarian protection by the federal government
Anyone who does not possess proof of a legal resident status in the United States was already ineligible for participation in the SNAP program before these changes.
The Congressional Budget Office expects that around 90,000 people nationwide will become ineligible for SNAP benefits due to these changes. The USDA has not yet provided guidance on if these changes to SNAP eligibility will occur immediately or when a recipient of SNAP is recertified.
For mixed-status households where at least one household member is a U.S. citizen, participation in SNAP should not affect the residency status of any of your other household members. Your personal information included in your SNAP application is only shared with the state government, not the federal government, and typically cannot be used for immigration enforcement. In September 2025, the state attorney of New Jersey and the state attorneys of 20 other states won a lawsuit against the federal government after the USDA illegally demanded the private information of SNAP recipients, with a threat to eliminate SNAP funding for any states that did not comply. This decision ensures the protection of the privacy of all families using SNAP in states like New Jersey that refuse to comply with this illegal demand for data sharing - but NPR reported that 27 other states chose to comply with this order, so this could change under a new political landscape in New Jersey.
October 2026: Thrifty Food Plan Changes - Benefits Reduced
In 2021, the Biden Presidential Administration directed the USDA to increase monthly SNAP benefits in order to account for the increasing costs of food. This was done through an adjustment to the “Thrifty Food Plan”, which is the evaluation that the USDA uses to measure the minimum cost of a healthy meal on a budget – and this assessment is used to determine the amount of monthly benefits that families receive with SNAP. This year’s Summer Congressional megabill reversed this set increase to the Thrifty Food Plan. Starting in October 2026, families will receive fewer SNAP benefits than they would have if the Thrifty Food Plan had not been changed.
The Summer Congressional megabill also froze the Thrifty Food Plan, with any future evaluations of the plan needing to be cost-neutral. This means that there will be no future SNAP benefit increases from adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan, except by a new bill from Congress. These changes to the Thrifty Food Plan will not decrease recipients’ current SNAP benefit allotments, but instead will remove scheduled increases in the 2026-2027 fiscal year that were meant to react to the rising costs of food. The USDA reports that food prices increased in 2022 by 9.9%, the highest annual increase in the past 40 years, and that food prices have continued to increase at a record amount since then.
Many research groups argue that SNAP benefits currently do not adequately cover the cost of a healthy diet, particularly when considering these rising food costs. The average daily SNAP benefit is $2.84, which is 30-40% lower than the cost of even the most modestly priced meals you can purchase in New Jersey, according to data from the Urban Institute. The Thrifty Food Plan metric for determining SNAP benefits is only the lowest of the USDA’s food plan evaluations, and does not necessarily represent the actual cost of a healthy diet.
October 2026: State Administrative Cost Share Begins, and October 2027: State Program Cost Share Begins
Historically, the federal government has paid for the cost of SNAP benefits, rather than the state of New Jersey. It has been the responsibility of the U.S. Congress to find the funding for SNAP benefits, rather than the New Jersey State government. The federal government and the New Jersey county governments split the cost of administering the SNAP program 50/50 – this means they each contribute the same amount of funding for program staff, technology, EBT cards, and any other funding required to operate the SNAP program.
The Summer Congressional megabill changed this agreement, which means that every state will need to contribute more of their own funding to operate the SNAP program. These changes will occur at set times.
Starting in October 2026, the New Jersey state government will need to contribute 75% of the funding for administrative costs for SNAP, rather than the traditional 50/50 split with the federal government.
The New Jersey State Department of Human Services estimates that this increased administrative cost share starting in October 2026 will cost the state of New Jersey $94 million dollars a year.
This new cost for New Jersey will be a total of $991 million dollars by 2034.
This administrative cost share for SNAP is primarily paid for by New Jersey county governments, which means that each individual county department of human services will need to find room in their budgets for this change. See this guide for expected county-by-county additional costs.
Starting in October 2027, the New Jersey state government will need to contribute somewhere between 5% to 15% of the cost of SNAP benefits themselves.
The New Jersey State Department of Human Services estimates that the SNAP benefit cost share starting in October 2027 will cost the state of New Jersey somewhere between $112 to $336 million dollars a year.
This new cost for New Jersey will be a total of somewhere between $876 million dollars to $2.63 billion dollars by 2034.
This amount will depend on the state’s payment error rate for their data reporting to the federal government. A higher payment error rate will result in a higher state share contribution amount.
These changes to how the SNAP program is funded will cost the state of New Jersey anywhere between $206 million dollars to $430 million dollars each year. According to the New Jersey Monitor, the New Jersey state budget already runs at a structural deficit, meaning that there is not much room in the budget for a sudden new annual cost of $200-400 million dollars. The New Jersey Department of Human Services stated that “when the federal government shifts costs to the state, it means the state will have to raise taxes or cut other services”. The commissioner for the department, Sarah M. Adelman, stated that “states really don’t have levers where we can make adjustments to prepare for the shift in benefit cost … anywhere north of $100 million is just going to be incredibly challenging for states to identify in their budgets”.
Other states may respond to these changes by completely ending the SNAP program within their states, or they may intentionally work to reduce participation by adding additional burdens for registration. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 300,000 people nationwide will lose SNAP as states adjust to these changes. The state of New Jersey has currently committed to continuing to support the SNAP program, but that could change under a future economic downturn or new political landscape. Additionally, this new cost to the budget may jeopardize New Jersey’s ability to provide other supports for the SNAP program, such as the $95 minimum SNAP benefit for all families that the state budget pays for (this minimum benefit is $23 per month in other states).
Losing SNAP Benefits Could Mean Losing Free School Meals and WIC Too
Other nutrition assistance programs like free or reduced-price school meals, Summer EBT, and the WIC program were not directly cut or changed by the 2025 Summer Congressional megabill. However, the changes to the SNAP program and the Medicaid program (which also faced massive cuts under the same bill) will have ripple effects that will result in families losing access to these programs.
Free School Meals and Summer EBT
Typically, only families under a certain income limit may receive free or reduced-price school meals and Summer EBT. These families must fill out a School Meals and Summer EBT Application in order to receive these benefits. However, when a family qualifies for the SNAP program or for Medicaid, their children are automatically eligible for free school meals and Summer EBT, without needing to fill out an application. The student will receive free school meals without any action needed by the parents.
Additionally, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows that when at least 25% of a student population for a school is enrolled in SNAP or Medicaid, the entire school becomes eligible for free school meals and Summer EBT, no applications required. 27.2 million children a year nationwide receive free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision. These provisions make it significantly easier for families to receive free school meals and Summer EBT without needing to fill out an application.
The 2025 Summer Congressional megabill will cut thousands of families in New Jersey off of the SNAP program and from the Medicaid program, which will also remove their automatic qualification for free school meals and Summer EBT. This may affect many New Jersey schools' ability to qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, meaning that thousands more children will be removed from these meal programs as well. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 96,000 children nationwide will lose access to free school meals and Summer EBT because of the changes to SNAP.
These families may still be eligible to receive free school meals and Summer EBT by filling out the application, as unlike SNAP, there are no work requirements for these programs. However, this application process can be a burden for many families. Many families do not know about the school meals application, or are wary of providing their private identifying information. The NJ State Assembly leadership announced that they will work to streamline the school meal application and make it more widely accessible, in order to help more families access these programs.
The WIC Program
The WIC Program (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children) provides food benefits and support for income-eligible women who are pregnant or have children up to 5 years old. Similarly to the free school meals program, families can be automatically enrolled in the WIC program if they already participate in the SNAP or Medicaid programs. This helps remove the burden of completing an additional application just to receive another benefit program. When any families lose access to SNAP or Medicaid because of the changes in the Summer Congressional megabill, they lose that automatic enrollment. The National WIC Association estimated that over 3 million women and children will lose access to WIC because of these changes.
Possible Future Changes to SNAP
While these policy changes for SNAP have now been enacted by the current U.S. Congress, many advocacy groups and legislators are working to either reverse these changes or to enact new policies that will help alleviate the hardships that will come with these SNAP cuts.
Representative Alma Adams from North Carolina introduced the “Closing the Meal Gap Act” to the U.S. Congress, which if passed would increase SNAP benefits by $20 a week. The Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group that supports food access, is mobilizing support for the “Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act”, which would directly repeal the cuts and changes to SNAP from the 2025 Summer Congressional megabill. While neither bill will likely be passed under the same Congress that just passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” this Summer, that could change under a future makeup of Congress.
A variety of groups are also looking to see how the State of New Jersey can better help support food access within our state. New Jersey’s Office of the Food Security Advocate released their Strategic Plan for Food Security in New Jersey for community feedback in August, which outlines a variety of policies to strengthen food systems resiliency and build better cross-sector collaboration to fight food insecurity in New Jersey. NJ Assemblywoman Shama Haider introduced a bill to recognize the right to adequate food in New Jersey, and Speaker Craig Coughlin will introduce two bills to help address hunger by supporting families to meet the SNAP work requirements and helping increase access to the School Meals and Summer EBT Application. Additionally, New Jersey Policy Perspective has proposed a pathway for New Jersey to end child poverty through a series of policies, including a proposal of an extra $25 in monthly SNAP benefits per person, paid for through state funding.
The state of New Jersey has currently committed to continuing to support the SNAP program, but that could change under a future economic downturn or new political landscape. According to the New Jersey Monitor, the New Jersey state budget already runs at a structural deficit, and the budget will be further strained with these new administrative and benefit cost shares it will take on in 2026 and 2027. These new costs to the budget or future economic recessions may jeopardize New Jersey’s ability to provide other supports for the SNAP program, such as the $95 minimum SNAP benefit for all families that the state budget pays for (this minimum benefit is $23 per month in other states). Future political administrations in New Jersey may also prioritize funding alternative programs or tax cuts rather than supporting this SNAP benefit minimum.
The future of the SNAP program may not be completely certain, but the program will still continue to serve hundreds of thousands of families in New Jersey. Despite these changes and cuts, the SNAP program will still be the strongest anti-hunger program in the nation. Feeding America has found that for every one meal that their food banks provide, SNAP provides nine meals. The USDA reported that receiving SNAP benefits for at least six months reduced food insecurity rates by 10.6%, and the U.S. Census Bureau found that the SNAP program prevents 3.2 million people a year from falling into poverty. The Good Food Bucks program multiplies this impact of SNAP by doubling the amount of fruits and vegetables any family receives when buying with SNAP in New Jersey. Continued support and advocacy for SNAP is of the utmost importance, in order to assure that as many families as possible continue to receive this life-saving program.
The USDA has not yet provided guidance on all aspects of the legislative implementation of these changes to SNAP. Some information may later be updated for increased accuracy. You can review the USDA’s official guidance on these changes to SNAP here.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.
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