Note for Alaska, Hawaii, and the Territories: The limits are higher due to the higher cost of living. For example, for a family of four, the maximum is $1,995 in rural Alaska, $1,689 in Hawaii, $1,465 in Guam, and $1,278 in the Virgin Islands.
SNAP Payment Dates by State: February schedules are ready
Here’s the thing about SNAP payments: every state runs its own schedule. They don’t follow a single, national calendar. When you get your benefits depends entirely on where you live.
Most states split up their payments across the month using some kind of identifier—often your last name, your case number, or the last few digits of your ID. It’s all done in waves to manage the system. Let’s take a look at the full schedules for every US state:
- Alabama: January 4 to 23
- Alaska: January 1
- Arizona: January 1 to 13
- Arkansas: January 4 to 13
- California: January 1 to 10
- Colorado: January 1 to 10
- Connecticut: January 1 to 3
- Delaware: January 2 to 23
- District of Columbia: January 1 to 10
- Florida: January 1 to 28
- Georgia: January 5 to 23
- Guam: January 1 to 10
- Hawaii: January 3 to 5
- Idaho: January 1 to 10
- Illinois: January 1 to 20
- Indiana: January 5 to 23
- Iowa: January 1 to 10
- Kansas: January 1 to 10
- Kentucky: January 1 to 19
- Louisiana: January 1 to 23
- Maine: January 10 to 14
- Maryland: January 4 to 23
- Massachusetts: January 1 to 14
- Michigan: January 3 to 21
- Minnesota: January 4 to 13
- Mississippi: January 4-21
- Missouri: January 1 to 22
- Montana: January 2 to 6
- Nebraska: January 1 to 5
- Nevada: January 1 to 10
- New Hampshire: January 5
- New Jersey: January 1 to 5
- New York (State): January 1 to 9*
- New Mexico: January 1 to 20
- North Carolina: January 3 to 21
- North Dakota: January 1
- Ohio: January 2 to 20
- Oklahoma: January 1 to 10
- Oregon: January 1 to 9
- Pennsylvania: January 3 to 14
- Puerto Rico: January 4 to 22
- Rhode Island: January 1
- South Carolina: January 1 to 19
- South Dakota: January 10
- Tennessee: January 1 to 20
- Texas: January 1 to 28
- Utah: January 5, 11, and 15
- Vermont: January 1
- U.S. Virgin Islands: January 1
- Virginia: January 1 to 7
- Washington: January 1 to 20
- West Virginia: January 1 to 9
- Wisconsin: January 1 to 15
- Wyoming: January 1 to 4
Changes to SNAP Benefits Imposed by the OBBBA Act
Signed into law last Independence Day, inside the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the 2025 SNAP reform bill isn’t just a minor update; it’s a fundamental redesign of America’s primary food assistance safety network. The changes hit three major areas: who qualifies, how much they get, and the rules they must follow to keep benefits.
The most controversial shift is the massive expansion of work mandates. Gone are the days when “able-bodied adults without dependents“, or ABAWDs, could age out of these requirements at 54. Now, if you’re under 65, you’re potentially on the hook.
Adults aged 55 to 64 must now prove they’re logging at least 20 hours a week at a job or in an approved training program. Fall short, and your benefits cut off after three months in any three-year period. It’s a policy shift that could slam older workers in shaky job markets.
New Definitions from the OBBBA Legislation
But the net widens further. The law also starts counting parents as “able-bodied” once their youngest kid hits 14, pulling a new group into the work requirement fold. Perhaps most strikingly, it explicitly ends exemptions for populations that previously often got a pass: veterans, the homeless, and young adults who’ve aged out of foster care. For these groups, the program now has stricter strings attached.
On the money side, the reforms tighten the screws on benefit calculations. Many families will feel this through the elimination of the Standard Utility Allowance—a deduction for heating and cooling costs—unless their household includes someone over 60 or with a disability. For everyone else, that’s effectively a benefit cut.
Finally, the law handcuffs future benefit adjustments. Starting this October, the only chance for an increase comes once a year with the October cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). And here’s the kicker: the USDA is formally barred from issuing any other raises until at least October 1, 2027, regardless of what inflation or a recession might do in the meantime. The message is clear: even in a crisis, the automatic response of boosting food aid is officially switched off.
