4 Million Americans Removed From SNAP in 8 Months
More than 4 million Americans lost access to SNAP food benefits between July 2025 and March 2026, according to a new analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). More than 1 million of those cut were children, drawn from data across 19 states.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025, tightened SNAP eligibility rules and increased state screening requirements. It also shifted a portion of SNAP benefit costs to states based on their payment error rates, a change the CBPP says is driving the steepest enrollment declines.
1 million+ children lost SNAP access across 19 states studied, July 2025 to March 2026
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 2026
Arizona Cut Its SNAP Rolls in Half
Arizona recorded the largest drop in enrollment of any state studied. More than 450,000 Arizonans have come off SNAP since the bill passed, cutting the state’s total participation by half.
Louisiana saw nearly 1 in 4 children who had been receiving SNAP lose their benefits. Massachusetts and Texas each removed close to 1 in 5 enrolled children from the program.
SNAP is the country’s largest food assistance program. It provides monthly grocery benefits to low-income and no-income households. These are not households that suddenly became ineligible because their finances improved; the CBPP attributes the declines primarily to new administrative barriers and cost-shifting rules, not to income changes.
Congress Has the Power to Stop Further Cuts
The CBPP warned the situation will worsen without action from Congress.
“Without immediate congressional action to delay this cost shift for all states, the unfolding emergency will only worsen as more children are cut off from the food assistance their families need to afford nutritious food.”
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 25, 2026
States now face a choice between absorbing new SNAP costs out of their own budgets or cutting more participants. Most states will cut participants. That means the 1 million figure is not a ceiling; it is a floor.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to cosponsor a legislative fix to delay the One Big Beautiful Bill’s SNAP cost-shift provision. Name your state and ask them to act before fall budget negotiations close the window.
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Call your U.S. representative at (202) 225-3121 and ask them to support restoring SNAP eligibility rules to pre-July 2025 standards. If your representative voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill, tell them the CBPP documented 1 million children losing benefits in their first eight months.
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Contact your state agriculture or social services agency and ask whether your state has applied for a federal waiver or emergency relief funds to cover displaced SNAP recipients. Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts residents have the most direct use given their documented cut rates.
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Find your local food bank at feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank and ask whether demand has increased since July 2025. Food banks are absorbing the overflow from SNAP cuts and can connect displaced families to emergency food resources while advocacy continues.
Sources
The Guardian: More Than 1 Million Children Lost SNAP After Trump Bill Passed Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: SNAP Enrollment Decline Analysis, 19 States KFF: One Big Beautiful Bill Act SNAP Provisions Summary Feeding America: Find Your Local Food Bank Directory