Participation in the nation's largest food assistance program has fallen over the past year, with new federal data showing enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) declined by more than 13 percent over a 12-month period as eligibility rules and work requirements tightened under President Donald Trump's domestic policy package. SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, are paid to more than 35 million low-income Americans each month to help them with the cost of groceries. It is the largest federal nutrition assistance program and serves millions of households with children.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows a drop in enrollment from 42.2 million in May 2025 to 36.6 million in May 2026, a fall off significantly larger than original federal projections. Over the past 16 years, the average number of monthly SNAP beneficiaries has only dropped below 40 million twice, in 2019 and 2020, according to the AP. Supporters of the Trump administration's SNAP updates say the stricter requirements are intended to encourage workforce participation and reduce government spending and fraud, while anti-hunger advocates argue some eligible recipients may lose benefits because of administrative hurdles, missed paperwork deadlines or difficulties navigating the recertification process.
Newsweek reached out to the state agencies that oversee SNAP in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada for comment by email on Friday. The sharpest decline has been recorded in Arizona, where SNAP participation has fallen by more than half over the past year, about 53 percent, according to USDA data released on August 14 tracking the percent change from May 2025 to May 2026. In May 2025, there were 887,000 Arizonians on SNAP, per the data.
One year later, in May 2026, there were around 410,000 people on SNAP in the state. Much of the state's drop was related to the state's struggle to implement new federal requirements, the state agency that oversees and administers SNAP said. Several other states, including Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada, have also seen enrollment drop by more than 20 percent during the same period.
Georgia saw enrollment drop from around 1.87 million in May 2025 to 1.18 million in May 2026, a 36.5 percent drop. In Nevada, SNAP enrollment decreased 23.1 percent year over year, falling from nearly 497,000 participants in May 2025 to about 382,000 in May 2026. Florida saw SNAP enrollment fall 22.2 percent, from about 2.94 million participants in May 2025 to 2.29 million in May 2026, according to USDA data.
The state's membership decline is partly attributed to immigration concerns, Paco Velez, president and CEO of Feeding South Florida, told the AP. He noted that some immigrants who are legally in the country may be avoiding SNAP benefits because they fear being targeted by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Louisiana recorded a 21.5 percent decline in SNAP participation over the same period, with enrollment dropping from roughly 804,000 recipients to 631,000.
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