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In the latest set of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, states are taking on more of the cost burden for the food assistance program.
There are two big changes for states, said Christina Roberto, the director for the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Historically, states have always shared part of the administrative costs of administering that program with the federal government, and so it used to be a 50-50 deal,” she said. “But a change has been made so that states are now responsible for 75% of those administrative costs.”
She says that states will also now be penalized for their “error rate” – or errors in SNAP payment calculations that may result in overpayments or underpayments for recipients.
“So, it depends on how far above that [error] percentage the state is,” Roberto said. “But, the federal government used to pay for 100% of the SNAP benefits, and now, the state is actually going to have to pay for that amount that’s over that error rate.”
There is a margin of “acceptable” error percentage for states through this new rule – but states above this margin would be required to pay for 5-15% of SNAP benefit expenditures, a cost that was formally covered 100% by the federal government.
This change would go into effect beginning October 1, 2027. According to the latest available data from 2025, Pennsylvania had around a 9% error rate for SNAP benefits – meaning that under the new guidance, the state would be responsible for paying for 10% of its SNAP benefit expenditures.
“For Philadelphia, with our error rate of 9.2%, that means we would have to contribute an estimated $410 million annually to SNAP benefits, which is a cost the federal government used to cover,” Roberto said.
What do these changes mean for recipients?
SNAP has already seen numerous changes over the last year and a half, including new work requirements for recipients and further funding cuts from the federal government.
These changes have already led to thousands of Philadelphians being phased off of SNAP, said Dr. Alissa Smethers, a registered dietitian and assistant professor at Temple University’s College of Public Health.
“SNAP rates have dropped about 13% over the past year,” she said. “So individuals who are eligible are not applying because they might need documentation, or maybe they’re not able to get the documentation that’s needed with those stricter requirements.”
In terms of new changes, Smethers said SNAP recipients will see a slight inflation adjustment in their benefits.
“SNAP benefits are increasing on average for individuals,” she said. “They’re going up about $18 per month, which is the basic cost- of- living adjustment. So it’s like a 2.9% increase in their benefits, which kind of maps on with the national cost of food increase of around 2.7%, although everything’s getting more expensive and overall inflation’s 3.4%.”
With state cost changes, Roberto said time will tell how it will directly impact SNAP recipients.
“There is this kind of, ‘we’ll wait and see,’ and how are states pivoting, and what are they doing actually to try to cover this gap?” she said.
Smethers said the already-stressed nutrition assistance program may face more challenges that indirectly impact recipients – including further difficulty navigating benefits.
“I think what happens now with that administrative shift in requirements is kind of seeing if it’s going to become more difficult for folks to navigate the program or if there are any delays, or if eligible people might experience any disruptions for their food assistance, even if they are eligible,” she said.
Smethers explained any of these changes or delays also lead to a decrease in diet quality or issues finding high-quality foods.
“For households who are already operating on really tight food budgets, losing or delaying SNAP is going to mean kind of declines in their diet quality,” she said. “So we’re thinking about the nutrition perspective. If they don’t have money to spend on food, they might not buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Now they’re relying more on canned, packaged, ultra-processed foods to meet their needs, which can lead to decreases in their overall food quality.”
How might the government and state programs help?
Food banks are also seeing households increasingly reliant on their resources, said George Matysik, the executive director of the Share Food Program.
“Pantries that said they used to see folks come to them purely as a supplement are now seeing folks that are showing up at their pantry just to get their food,” he said. “They’re using this as the primary source of food for their families and we’re seeing that increasingly happening across our network, and so for our organization, it means we’re having to serve more folks more food with fewer resources.”
Matysik emphasized Share Food is doing everything it can to help those struggling with food insecurity, but that the increasing changes to SNAP are making this more difficult.
“We were not built to be able to serve the entire Greater Philadelphia area for the folks that are food insecure,” he said. “The work that we have done in our 40-year history has been supplemental, not meant to be the primary source of where people are getting their food assistance.”
Other resources throughout Philly and the state exist – including this list of resources in Philadelphia County and other resources in surrounding counties. But, Matysik said that many of these resources are also strapped for funding due to prior SNAP cuts.
It is unclear how the state will handle these new changes, Roberto said.
“Hopefully, states do cover these gaps, and they can fund SNAP because again, it’s such a critical program to prevent hunger in this country,” she said. “But then, where is that money coming from? So then, are there other programs that that money is being pulled from?”
She said states will likely have to get “innovative” with solutions for further funding. But, she said she is concerned for government agencies that are already facing resource gaps.
“These groups, like the Department of Health and Human Services, are understaffed and are being taxed in these other ways,” she said. “They’re being hit with the administrative costs, and so there’s also just fewer people to be able to work on these issues as well.”
How did we get here?
President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was passed in July of 2025, included deep cuts to SNAP and Medicaid programs. The bill claimed that the SNAP program was “so bloated that it is leaving fewer resources for those who truly need help.”
These initial cuts threatened almost 2 million Pennsylvania residents, including 55,000 in and around Philadelphia.
Work requirements also went into effect in September, meaning that those between ages 18 to 64 without dependent children under 14 who are physically and mentally able to work must work at least 20 hours per week – otherwise, their SNAP benefits are limited to three months total.
Nationally, the number of people receiving SNAP benefits has dropped from 42 million to 36 million during these changes from Trump’s bill.
Since federal changes have been signed into law, about 234,000 of the two million SNAP recipients in Pennsylvania, or about 12%, have lost their benefits.
What now?
Matysik said he believes changes in leadership in the upcoming November elections could help with these benefit changes.
“The November elections are right around the corner, and I hope that we can hold the folks accountable who have made many of these decisions over the course of the last few years,” he said.
In the meantime, Roberto said she is hoping governments will consider looking at the positive changes programs like SNAP can bring to its communities.
“SNAP is associated with better economic productivity in the long term,” she said. “It’s associated with lower metabolic syndrome and obesity. It’s associated with lower incarceration rates. It’s associated with better health at older ages.”
“And so there’s just such clear evidence that not only is this a program that protects people from hunger and addresses food insecurity, but it has all of these really amazing long-term benefits.”
She explained the program also generates economic activity in other industries – including farming, agricultural and grocery industries.
Smethers says that although Philly has short-term solutions for these issues, she is concerned for the long-term future of nutrition assistance.
“I think there are people coming up with ideas, but I don’t know if we have a concrete long-term solution,” she said.
Matysik, Smethers and Roberto agreed that time will tell when it comes to further impact of these changes.
For further resources, you can visit the city’s food and meal finder website, reach out to organizations like Community Legal Services, or refer to WHYY’s list of resources in Philadelphia County and other resources in surrounding counties.
