At least 3.5 million people have lost food stamp access as Trump's 'big beautiful bill' cuts take effect, analysis finds

Consumers are facing price pressures as the costs of groceries and gas rise. The pace of inflation is expected to increase in the coming months, according to the Survey of Professional Forecasters, a quarterly macroeconomic survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, there has been a "remarkable increase in food insecurity," the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a recent blog post, as people cope with higher costs and the loss of federal aid.

A new analysis shows that nationwide almost 9% of individuals — more than 3.5 million — who were beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food benefits to low-income families, lost those benefits between July, when President Donald Trump signed his "big beautiful bill" into law, and February. The analysis was conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.

That legislation included more stringent rules to qualify for SNAP, particularly regarding work requirements. In addition, the law shifted some administrative and cost responsibilities to states. Ahead of the law's passage, proponents said the changes to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, would reduce waste and provide accountability.

Almost 42 million people nationwide received SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2025, according to the most recent figures from the Department of Agriculture.

As states implement the changes, some are already experiencing dramatic declines in SNAP participation, according to CBPP, which used data from the Department of Agriculture and state programs.

Arizona lost 51% of its SNAP beneficiaries, according to CBPP, based on recent state data. Arizona already faced issues with food benefits, including understaffing, that contribute to the higher coverage loss rate it's seeing now, according to Joseph Llobrera, senior director of research on the food assistance team at CBPP.

State data suggests that 20% of SNAP beneficiaries in Louisiana have lost benefits, according to CBPP, while almost 16% in Tennessee and nearly 15% in Virginia have lost benefits.

SNAP participation has declined in every state, CBPP found, yet the unemployment rate has held steady at about 4% since July. Consequently, it's "very unlikely" that reduced need is prompting SNAP participation to fall, CBPP said in its report.

Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act included $187 billion in cuts to SNAP, according to the Congressional Budget Office. At the time, CBPP called it the "biggest cut in the program's history."

The new law requires states to help pay for SNAP benefits, which were previously a federal obligation.

To limit how much they must contribute, states can bring down their error rates — that is, underpayments or overpayments of SNAP benefits. However, curbing those error rates may result in individuals losing access to SNAP, according to CBPP.

The OBBBA also created stricter rules for people accessing SNAP benefits. Previously, certain individuals were limited to three months of SNAP benefits every three years unless they worked 20 hours per week or they qualified for an exemption.

The legislation expands those work requirements to individuals ages 55 through 64; parents of minor children ages 14 and up; and people who are homeless, veterans or former foster youth. Certain legal U.S. residents who are not citizens are now ineligible for SNAP benefits.

The size of SNAP benefit payments is based on a "relatively complicated" calculation that takes into account the number of people in a household and their income and expenses, Llobrera said.

Arizona resident Rhonda Keene, 60, told CNBC that she applied for SNAP benefits for the first time in February, since her declining health means she can no longer work full-time.

Since then, she said, she has responded to multiple requests from the state for more documentation to support her application. Yet she still has not received any SNAP support.

"I've never been in this situation," Keene said. "It's pretty humiliating."

Keene said she is relying on financial support from her family and odd jobs. She said her retirement savings has dwindled and she worries that she could lose her home. She has also applied for Social Security disability and retirement benefits, she said, but has been told that that application will also take time to process.

Experts say Keen's situation is not unusual.

"There's this mountain of paperwork that households are being required to submit" for SNAP, as states seek to lower their payment error rates, Llobrera said. "People are getting cut off because they can't get through, their paperwork isn't being approved, or they're being improperly denied."

Around 400,000 Arizonans have lost access to SNAP due to the recently enacted federal rules, according to Claudio Rodriguez, deputy chief of community development at the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

For many people, deciding to seek help is already difficult, Rodriguez said, and some aren't coming back to reapply for benefits.

"They just don't want to ask for that kind of help," he said. "It's also — people have to jump through a lot of hoops to get these benefits."

The average SNAP recipient in Arizona receives about $168 per month, Rodriguez said. For some, it can be difficult to justify the hours of paperwork and phone calls necessary in order to qualify for those benefit sums, he said.

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, which serves five counties, saw its donations increase 17% in its recent food drive, according to Rodriguez.

"It just shows that people are definitely knowing that their neighbors are in need and that they want to help and support," he said.

Yet Rodriguez and other experts say that food banks won't be able to replace the lost federal SNAP support.

Because SNAP provides nine meals for every one meal a food bank provides, it will be impossible for food banks to make up for those benefit losses without additional financial help, according to Jared Call, director of public policy and advocacy at the California Food Banks, a nonprofit with 43 member food banks.

Since some states have yet to fully implement the changes, experts say SNAP participation rates are likely to fall further.

"We are bracing for impact," Call said.

California is poised to implement the new expanded three-month time limit on benefits starting June 1. The cuts for those who don't meet the new requirements after three months will likely start around October, when an estimated 55,000 to 60,000 Californians per month may lose benefits, Call said.

California saw a more than 6% decline in SNAP participation from February 2025 to February 2026, CBPP's data shows.

California Food Banks is serving 6 million people per month, Call said, which is more than at the height of the Covid pandemic, when it served 4.5 million people per month.

"We kind of never got back to normal after the pandemic," he said.

The new expanded work requirements went into effect in New York on March 1, which means beneficiaries may reach the three-month time limit on June 1, according to Krista Hesdorfer, director of public affairs at Hunger Solutions New York, a nonprofit focused on reducing food insecurity.

"We know that the worst is yet to come in a lot of states, including New York," Hesdorfer said.

SNAP participation has decreased by about 150,000 beneficiaries in New York state as of February, before the implementation of the new federal rules, she said. About 300,000 to 400,000 New Yorkers are expected to be affected by those rules, she said.

"We are deeply concerned that many folks will lose access to vital food benefits right when they are struggling with rising grocery costs, but also costs increasing for everything from housing to healthcare to childcare," Hesdorfer said.

Advocates say they are hopeful lawmakers will take action to mitigate the potential damage of the SNAP cuts.

"We should be working to make sure that everybody has access to SNAP if they need it to help put food on the table," said Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit organization focused on fighting poverty-related hunger in the U.S.

Putting time limits on benefits in an effort to encourage work can be "problematic," FitzSimons said, particularly in communities with high unemployment rates, where it can be difficult for people to meet the new standards.

Because people's work schedules can shift, particularly with the gig economy, it can also be difficult to consistently demonstrate compliance with the required number of work hours, FitzSimons said.

Congress may look to shore up funding for SNAP in the new farm bill being considered by the Senate.

The American Public Health Association, an advocacy organization, is pushing for restoration of the $187 billion that was cut from SNAP, as well as reversing the "big beautiful" law's changes to the program, including the expanded work requirements, according to Tia Williams, director of APHA's Center for Public Health Policy.  

The Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy and research organization, estimates the SNAP coverage losses due to the new work requirements could lead to 70,000 deaths nationally by 2040.

"These cuts and the impact they will have on both individual and community health will be devastating, and they're incongruent around the goals of reducing chronic disease," Williams said.  

Are you having difficulty accessing SNAP benefits and willing to share your story for a future article? Email lorie.konish@cnbc.com.