How your benefit is calculated
Once your household qualifies, the benefit calculation is a single formula: monthly benefit = maximum allotment for your household size − 30% of your net monthly income. The 30% reflects the program's assumption that a household can spend about 30% of its net income on food. Everything else in SNAP — the income tests, the deductions — exists to produce the net income figure that goes into this formula.
- Formula: benefit = maximum allotment − 30% of net monthly income (7 CFR 273.10(e)(2)(ii)).
- Zero net income means the full maximum allotment for your household size.
- One- and two-person households always receive at least the $24 minimum (FY2026), even if the formula gives less.
- Your state rounds the 30% figure under its own rule (up to the next dollar, or the allotment down) — so results can differ by a dollar from a hand calculation.
Three worked examples, labelled as calculated
Example 1 — household of four, $1,000 net income. Maximum $994 − 30% of $1,000 ($300) = $694 per month.
Example 2 — household of three, $800 net income. Maximum $785 − 30% of $800 ($240) = $545 per month.
Example 3 — one person, $500 net income. Maximum $298 − 30% of $500 ($150) = $148 per month. If the same person's net income were $950, the formula gives $298 − $285 = $13 — but the $24 minimum applies, so the benefit is $24.
Notice the pattern: every $100 of additional net income reduces the benefit by $30. Earning more never reduces the benefit dollar for dollar, and because 20% of earnings is disregarded before net income is figured (see deductions and net income), each $100 of extra earnings cuts the benefit by only about $24.
Why two households with the same pay get different benefits
Household size sets the maximum; deductions set the net income. A household of four paying high rent gets a shelter deduction that a household of four with low rent does not, so the first household's net income — and therefore its benefit reduction — is smaller. A household with dependent-care costs or, for older or disabled members, medical costs gets further deductions. That is why the application asks about rent, utilities, child care, and medical bills: every deductible cost you report raises your benefit.
When benefits change mid-period
Benefits are recalculated when your circumstances change (see recertification and reporting changes) and every October 1, when the cost-of-living adjustment updates the maximums, limits, and deductions. A mass change like the October COLA does not require a new application — your state applies it automatically — but you should still check your new benefit notice each October, because a higher maximum does not always mean a higher benefit if your income also rose.
Sources to check: 7 CFR 273.10(e)(2)(ii) (allotment calculation); USDA Food and Nutrition Service, SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment information, fiscal year 2026.