SNAP benefits are distributed to recipients every month, but not everyone is paid on the same date.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is administered to low- or no-income Americans who would otherwise struggle to meet basic nutritional needs without some extra help.
Recipients are paid via electronic benefit transfer cards that are similar to debit cards. They are loaded with money each month and can be used in participating stores across the country. Payments are issued by individual states or county authorities, while the funds are provided by the federal government.
A composite image created by Newsweek. SNAP benefits are paid monthly to all recipients.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty
The day a recipient receives their monthly SNAP benefits depends on the state or territory they live in. In October, SNAP benefits are scheduled to be paid on or between the following dates:
- Alabama: October 4 to 23
- Alaska: October 1
- Arizona: October 1 to 13
- Arkansas: October 4 to 13
- California: October 1 to 10
- Colorado: October 1 to 10
- Connecticut: October 1 to 3
- Delaware: October 2 to 23
- District of Columbia: October 1 to 10
- Florida: October 1 to 28
- Georgia: October 5 to 23
- Guam: October 1 to 10
- Hawaii: October 3 to 5
- Idaho: October 1 to 10
- Illinois: October 1 to 20
- Indiana: October 5 to 23
- Iowa: October 1 to 10
- Kansas: October 1 to 10
- Kentucky: October 1 to 19
- Louisiana: October 1 to 23
- Maine: October 10 to 14
- Maryland: October 4 to 23
- Massachusetts: October 1 to 14
- Michigan: October 3 to 21
- Minnesota: October 4 to 13
- Mississippi: October 4 to 21
- Missouri: October 1 to 22
- Montana: October 2 to 6
- Nebraska: October 1 to 5
- Nevada: October 1 to 10
- New Hampshire: October 5
- New Jersey: October 1 to 5
- New Mexico: October 1 to 20
- New York: October 1 to 9
- North Carolina: October 3 to 21
- North Dakota: October 1
- Ohio: October 2 to 20
- Oklahoma: October 1 to 10
- Oregon: October 1 to 9
- Pennsylvania: October 3 to 14
- Puerto Rico: October 4 to 22
- Rhode Island: October 1
- South Carolina: October 1 to 19
- South Dakota: October 10
- Tennessee: October 1 to 20
- Texas: October 1 to 28
- Utah: October 5, 11 and 15
- Vermont: October 1
- Virgin Islands: October 1
- Virginia: October 1 to 7
- Washington: October 1 to 20
- West Virginia: October 1 to 9
- Wisconsin: October 1 to 15
- Wyoming: October 1 to 4
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers recently warned that SNAP beneficiaries who are subject to fraud may soon be unable to reclaim lost benefits if Congress doesn’t act by the end of September. Under federal law, states are required to replace stolen benefits from SNAP.
However, the provision that allows this, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, is set to expire on September 30.
“The issue is clear: federal SNAP beneficiaries around the country continue to be targeted and benefits are being stolen at record levels,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter.
They continued: “This vital extension will continue to protect victims of SNAP benefit theft—including veterans, families, low-income workers, children, the elderly and the disabled—while Congress continues to work with state agencies, FNS and EBT vendors to improve card security and modernize the SNAP’s EBT system.”
