SNAP Calculator

Introduction

This SNAP calculator gives you a fast estimate of your monthly food stamp benefit. Enter your state, household size, income, and housing costs. The tool does the math and shows your estimated SNAP allotment right away.

SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) helps people buy food each month. Your benefit depends on how much money you make, how many people you feed, and what you pay for rent and utilities. The rules have many steps, so it is hard to guess your amount on your own.

This calculator follows the federal SNAP formula, with the tables for the 48 states and D.C., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It applies the 20% earned income deduction, the standard deduction, child care and medical costs, and the excess shelter deduction. It also checks your income against the gross and net income limits. Utility allowance amounts are built in for every state.

You get a full step-by-step breakdown and charts. This is only an estimate. Your state SNAP office decides your real benefit after you apply.

How to use our SNAP Calculator

Enter where you live, who is in your home, your monthly income, and your monthly bills. The calculator shows your estimated monthly SNAP benefit, your net SNAP income, your total deductions, and a full step-by-step breakdown.

State / Region: Pick the state or region where you live. Each state has its own utility allowance, so this changes your shelter deduction. In Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands it also sets the maximum benefit, standard deduction and shelter cap, and in Alaska and Hawaii the income limits.² In Alaska, also pick Urban, Rural I or Rural II.

Household Size: Choose how many people live with you and buy and cook food with you. Count your spouse and most children under 22 who live with you, even if they buy and cook food on their own.¹ This sets your maximum benefit and your income limits.

Household Status: Pick the first choice that fits your home. Pick the 60+ or disabled option if it applies, since it unlocks medical deductions and removes the shelter cap.

Boarders / Lodgers: Choose how many people pay you for a room and meals. Pick "no boarder" if nobody does.

Fixed nighttime residence: Choose "Yes" if your household has no steady place to sleep at night. The calculator then uses the standard homeless shelter deduction, or your excess shelter deduction from the costs below if that is larger.

Pay Period Converter: Type your pay amount, pick how often you get paid, and press Convert. Copy the monthly number into the income box below.

Gross Earned Income: Enter your monthly pay before taxes. Include wages, tips, and self-employment profit. If you only know your hourly rate, the hourly to salary calculator converts it for you.

Boarder / Lodger Payments: Enter how much your boarders pay you each month for room and board. The calculator takes off the maximum SNAP allotment for a household the size of the number of boarders, which is one method states may use.⁷ States can instead use actual costs, a flat amount or a fixed percentage.⁷

Unearned – Cash Assistance: Enter monthly TANF or state welfare cash you get.

Unearned – Social Security: Enter monthly Social Security, SSDI, or SSI payments.

Unearned – Other: Enter other monthly money like unemployment, VA benefits, pensions, alimony, workers' comp, or child support you receive.

Net Rental Income: Enter monthly rental profit, but only if you spend less than 20 hours a week on the property.⁶

Child Support Paid Out: Enter court-ordered child support you pay each month. This lowers your counted income.

Child / Dependent Care: Enter what you pay each month for child or adult care so you can work, look for work, or train.

Medical Expenses: Enter monthly medical costs nobody pays back, like drugs, premiums, dental, glasses, or rides to the doctor. Only amounts over $35 count.¹

Rent or Mortgage: Enter your monthly housing payment. Enter only your share, not any Section 8 or HUD help.

Property Tax, Insurance & Repairs: Homeowners only. Enter monthly taxes, home insurance, and repair costs from a disaster.

Utility Allowance Level: Pick the highest level you pay for. Level 1 is heating or cooling, Level 2 is two or more other utilities, Level 3 is phone only, or pick None.⁶

SNAP Recoupment: Enter the monthly amount your agency takes back for a past overpayment. Leave it at 0 if you owe nothing.

Press Calculate to see your results. Press Reset to clear the form.

What Is SNAP?

SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It used to be called food stamps. SNAP helps people with low income buy groceries. The money is loaded on an EBT card each month, and you swipe that card at stores that take it.¹ The federal government (USDA) pays for the benefits, and your state runs the program and shares its running costs. Starting in fiscal year 2028, states with higher payment error rates will also pay part of the benefit cost.

How SNAP Benefits Are Figured

Your state does not guess your benefit. It follows one federal math formula. The idea is simple: SNAP expects your family to spend about 30% of its own net income on food.¹ SNAP pays the rest, up to a set maximum for your family size.

Here are the steps the formula uses:

1. Add up monthly income. This means earned income (pay from a job or self-employment) plus unearned income (Social Security, SSI, TANF, unemployment, child support you get, pensions).
2. Take out deductions. These are costs the rules let you subtract.
3. Get your net income. That is income minus all deductions.
4. Multiply net income by 30% and subtract it from the maximum benefit for your household size.¹

Household Size Matters Most

A SNAP "household" is the people who live together and buy and cook food together.¹ It is not always the same as everyone in the home. A bigger household gets a bigger maximum benefit, called the Thrifty Food Plan amount.² Income limits also grow with household size.

Deductions That Lower Your Countable Income

Deductions matter a lot. The more you can subtract, the bigger your benefit can be.

• Standard deduction: everyone gets one, based on household size.¹
• 20% earned income deduction: if you work, one fifth of your pay does not count.¹ Use the take home pay calculator to see how your gross pay and net pay compare.
• Dependent care: what you pay out of pocket for child or adult care so you can work, look for work, or train.
• Medical costs: only for members age 60 or older or with a disability. The first $35 each month does not count; the rest can be deducted.¹
• Child support you pay: legally owed payments you send out lower your countable income.¹
• Excess shelter costs: rent or mortgage, property tax, home insurance, and utilities that cost more than half of your income after the other deductions.¹

Shelter Costs and the Utility Allowance

Shelter is often the largest deduction. Instead of adding up real utility bills, most states use a flat number called the Standard Utility Allowance (SUA).³ The amount depends on your state and on which utilities you pay.³ If you pay for heating or cooling, you usually get the highest level. If you only pay a phone bill, you get the smallest one. If the level that fits you shows $0 for your area, as Level 2 does in Alaska, Michigan and Minnesota and both levels do in Hawaii and Guam, or you pay only one utility, pick Each utility you pay in the calculator and tick each bill you pay.

There is a cap on the shelter deduction for most households. But if someone in your home is age 60 or older or has a disability, there is no cap, and all excess shelter cost can be deducted.¹ A household whose members are all homeless, and who do not get free shelter for the whole month, can use a standard homeless shelter deduction instead.⁶ If its real shelter costs are higher and can be verified, it can claim those instead.⁶

Income Limits

Most households must pass two tests. Gross income must be under 130% of the federal poverty line, and net income must be under 100% of it.² Households with a member who is 60 or older or has a disability skip the gross income test and only need to pass the net income test.¹ Households where everyone gets TANF or SSI, and in most states households that qualify for a TANF-funded benefit, are categorically eligible.¹ They do not have to pass either income test.⁶ They still need an income low enough to get a benefit from the formula.¹ To see your yearly figure instead of a monthly one, use the annual income calculator.

Things Good to Know

• Weekly pay is turned into monthly pay by multiplying by 4.3.⁵ Pay every two weeks is multiplied by 2.15.⁵
• Households of one or two people who qualify get at least a small minimum benefit.²
• If you were paid too much SNAP in the past, the state may take a set amount out of each month's benefit. That is called recoupment.
• Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have their own allotment and deduction tables.² This calculator uses them when you pick one of these areas.
• Benefit amounts and limits change every October 1, when the new federal fiscal year starts.²
• SNAP can be used for food and seeds, but not for alcohol, tobacco, pet food, hot prepared meals, or household supplies.⁴

Only your state SNAP office can approve you and tell you your real benefit amount. Some states have their own rules that change the math a little. Use this page to get a close estimate, then apply through your state agency.