The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program now asks more adults to prove they are working. The federal work rule that applied to able-bodied adults without children ages 18 to 54 has been extended to ages 18 to 64, and states became responsible for 75 percent of administrative costs on Oct. 1.
The changes come from the 2025 budget law that the Department of Agriculture calls the Working Families Tax Cut Act. Another post on this site covers the new benefit amounts, so this one focuses on the work rules, who is exempt and what the cost shift means for states.
What the work rule requires
The time limit applies to adults the program calls able-bodied adults without dependents, or ABAWDs. According to the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service, an affected adult must work, volunteer, or take part in a work program for 80 hours a month to receive benefits for more than three months in a three-year period. Hours can come from paid or unpaid work, volunteering, work for goods or services, a program such as SNAP Employment and Training, or a mix of those. Ideas for adults looking for paid hours are collected in 53 side jobs at home.
Adults who miss the requirement lose benefits after three months. The agency’s page says eligibility returns after a 30-day stretch of meeting the requirement or after the person becomes exempt. Otherwise the person must wait until the three-year period ends. A guide to the highest paying jobs without a degree covers one route to steadier hours.
The agency’s implementation memo for the exceptions says the change took effect when the law was enacted on July 4, 2025, and that the time limit now covers ages 18 through 64, up from 18 through 54. States were told to screen applicants and recertifications under the new exception rules, and the agency set Nov. 1, 2025, as the end of a quality-control grace period. AARP reported that the rule reached adults 55 to 64 for the first time and applies to new applicants and current recipients alike.
One caution applies. The agency’s work requirements page, updated Nov. 3, 2026, still lists the ABAWD range as ages 18 to 54 and says guidance on the new criteria is still being prepared. The memos and news reports, however, describe the 18-to-64 range as in force.
Who is exempt and who lost an exemption
The memo lists the changes. Exceptions for homeless individuals, veterans and former foster youth, which Congress added in 2023, were removed. Former foster youth had been covered up to age 24 if they were in foster care on their 18th birthday. Those groups are subject to the time limit again unless another exception applies.
The parent exception also narrowed. It now covers only households with a dependent child under 14, where it used to apply to a child under 18. Adults whose children are 14 to 17 face the limit unless they qualify some other way. Readers looking for more on household budgeting can browse these frugal living tips, and a related look at changing grocery rules is in a post on new grocery restrictions in four states.
New exceptions were added for American Indians, Urban Indians and California Indians as the law defines them. People with a physical or mental limitation, pregnant adults and others excused from the general requirements remain exempt under the agency’s page. Older adults can also read about 7 money moves to avoid in the first year of retirement. Adults 60 and older stay exempt from the general work requirements, so the memo says states cannot require people ages 60 through 64 to join mandatory employment and training.
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Fewer waivers for high-unemployment areas
States once could ask to pause the time limit in areas with too few jobs. A companion memo says that criterion was removed, and most states can now request waivers only where unemployment is above 10 percent. A waiver cannot run longer than 12 months. Alaska and Hawaii can qualify when unemployment reaches 150 percent of the national rate, and they can also seek a good-faith exemption that expires no later than Dec. 31, 2028.
The agency said it would end active waivers based on the old jobs criterion about 30 days after the Oct. 3, 2025, memo, which put the date near Nov. 2, 2025.
States take on 75 percent of administrative costs
The second change is about who pays to run the program. The Food and Nutrition Service’s questions and answers say the federal share of approved administrative costs drops from 50 percent to 25 percent beginning in fiscal year 2027, which started Oct. 1, 2026. That leaves states with the remaining 75 percent.
The same document says the reduction cannot be waived. It covers state-administered SNAP, including outreach. It does not touch the 50 percent federal reimbursement for employment and training, and the agency may still pay 75 percent of approved costs for agencies that run SNAP on a reservation. States may keep their approved advance planning documents with adjustments for the new rate.
ABC7 News reported that states must now cover 75 percent of administrative costs and that work requirements now apply to able-bodied adults without dependents ages 18 to 64. How states absorb the cost, whether through new appropriations or leaner offices, is a decision for each legislature.
A bigger bill on the horizon
A third piece begins later. According to AARP, starting in October 2027, states with payment error rates above 6 percent must cover at least 5 percent of benefits, and the share rises to 15 percent for the states with the highest error rates. The agency’s own implementation memo describes the match as ranging from 0 to 15 percent of allotments and generally starting in fiscal year 2028.
AARP also cited estimates that more than 1 million adults ages 55 to 64 without children at home could lose SNAP because of the work rules, and said more than 11 million adults 50 and older rely on the program.
For households, the practical questions are about hours and paperwork: keeping a record of 80 hours a month, checking whether another exception applies and responding to state notices. States were told to give each household a written and oral explanation of the work requirements. For state budgets, the question is how to pay a larger share of the cost of running the program before the benefit share begins.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
