SNAP Work Requirements 2026: Who Must Work 80 Hours, Who Is Exempt & How to Get Benefits Back

How the checker decides

The checker applies the federal test in order. First it checks age: the rule covers 18 through 64. Next it asks whether you are responsible for a child under 14and whether that child is in your SNAP household. Being responsible for a child in your SNAP household exempts you everywhere; just sharing a SNAP household with the child exempts you in most states, and the checker says “depends on your state” where a state's rule isn't confirmed. Then it checks every exemption you tick. If none applies, it compares your average monthly hours with the 80-hour requirement and subtracts the months you have already used from the 3-monthlimit. It also tells you whether SNAP's separate general work rules still apply. It does not know whether your area has a waiver or whether your state has started counting months for you. Your state agency makes the final call.

Adults aged 18 through 64 who can work must average 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, or a work program, or SNAP (food stamps) is limited to 3 months in a 36-month period — unless an exemption applies, such as being responsible for a child under 14. The July 2025 law raised the upper age from 54 and removed the exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and former foster youth.

Key takeaways

• →Check your age first: the rule covers 18 through 64 (up from 18–54) and stops the month you turn 65.
• →Check the child rule: being responsible for a child under 14 exempts you; parents whose youngest is 14–17 are now covered.
• →Log 80 hours a month from any mix of paid work, work for goods, volunteering, or an approved work program.
• →Watch the clock: 3 full months without meeting the rule in 36 ends SNAP until you work 80 hours in 30 days.
• →Don't rely on old exemptions — veterans, homeless people, and former foster youth now need another reason, such as a disability.
• →Remember the second rule: SNAP's general work rules (ages 16–59) still apply to many people who are exempt from the time limit.

What changed in 2025: SNAP work rules before vs after

Source: SNAP Work Requirements (pre-2025 rules) — Page updated July 16, 2026.

FNS says the changes took effect when the law was signed. States had to screen for the new rules immediately; the 120-day grace period for quality-control reviews ended November 1, 2025. Adults aged 60–64 are now covered by the time limit, but they remain exempt from the separate general work registration rules.

About the age limit:the law exempts people “under 18, or over 65, years of age.” USDA has long read “over” in this rule as “or older” — the 2023 law's “over 55” became “55 years of age or older” in 7 CFR 273.24(c)(1) — and states apply the 2025 text the same way: the time limit stops the month you turn 65 (Texas HHSC bulletin 25-16, New York OTDA 25-ADM-03-P, California CDSS ACL 25-93).

Two separate SNAP work rules

SNAP has two work requirements. Being exempt from one does not automatically excuse the other.

Source: SNAP Work Requirements (general work requirements) — 7 U.S.C. 2015(d) and (o).

What counts toward the 80 hours

The law requires 20 hours a week, averaged monthly — federal rules define that as 80 hours a month. Any of these count, alone or added together:

• Paid work — a job, gig work, or self-employment.
• Work for goods or services (“in-kind” work), such as working in exchange for rent.
• Unpaid or volunteer work, verified the way your state requires.
• A work program — SNAP Employment & Training, a WIOA program, a Trade Act program, a state or local training program, or a veterans' program run by the Department of Labor or VA.
• Workfare — the hours your state assigns, based on your benefit amount.

Job search only counts as a smaller part of a work program — less than half of the required hours. If you miss hours for a temporary reason outside your control, such as illness or a household emergency, your state can treat you as meeting the rule for good cause. Only full months of SNAP count toward the 3-month limit.

Source: 7 CFR 273.24 — Time limit for able-bodied adults — definitions of working, work program, countable months and good cause.

Who is exempt from SNAP work requirements

You do not have to meet the 80-hour time limit if you are under 18 or 65 or older, if you are a parent or other household member responsible for a child under 14, or if any of these apply. The last column shows whether the exemption also excuses SNAP's general work rules.

Source: 7 U.S.C. 2015(o) — Work requirement (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §10102) — July 4, 2025.

No longer exempt on their own: veterans, people experiencing homelessness, former foster youth (age 24 or younger). Some states still treat chronic homelessness or VA disability benefits as grounds for an exemption — Illinois exempts people experiencing chronic homelessness, and North Carolina exempts veterans receiving VA disability at any rating and says chronic homelessness may count as being obviously unfit for work. States can also give a limited number of discretionary exemptions (up to 8% of covered people) and can waive areas with unemployment over 10%. Each state decides what proof it accepts, so ask your caseworker.

Lost SNAP? How to get it back

1. Check for an exemption. If you now qualify — for example you are pregnant, receive disability benefits, you became responsible for a child under 14, or you turned 65 — tell your state agency and ask it to apply the exemption. Becoming exempt restores eligibility.
2. Work 80 hours in 30 days. Federal law lets you regain SNAP if, during any 30-day period, you work, take part in a work program, or combine the two for 80 hours or more. You stay eligible as long as you keep meeting the rule. If you later lose the job, you get one extra 3-month period, once per 36 months.
3. Reapply through your state. SNAP is run by your state agency — see the state table below or the USDA directory at fns.usda.gov/snap/state-directory.
4. Ask for expedited SNAP if money is very tight. Households with less than $150 in monthly gross income and no more than $100 in cash and bank accounts — or whose income plus cash is less than rent or mortgage plus utilities — must get benefits within 7 days of applying.
5. Request a fair hearing if the cutoff was wrong. You can ask for a hearing on any action your state took, or any loss of benefits, in the past 90 days. A request can be spoken or written — telling your caseworker you want to appeal is enough.

Source: 7 U.S.C. 2015(o)(5) (regaining eligibility); 7 CFR 273.2(i) (expedited service); 7 CFR 273.15 (fair hearings).

While you work on getting SNAP back, check whether you qualify for other help — see the SNAP income limits for the rest of your household and the Medicaid income limits for health coverage.

Frequently asked questions

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