When Will SNAP Benefits Be Paid? What to Know

Differences from state to state mean recipients of food aid face an uneven return to normal

Molly Snow,

AARP

Comments

Published November 14, 2025

Representative of older people grocery shopping

Getty Images

The government shutdown is over after more than 40 days, and older adults who receive federal food aid should start seeing benefits paid soon.

But depending on where they live, some people may still have to wait.

In guidance issued on Nov. 13, federal officials directed states to pay full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. November benefits have been in limbo since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, leaving millions of low-income households without critical food assistance. More than 11 million adults age 50 and older rely on SNAP.

"State agencies must take immediate steps to ensure households receive their full November allotments promptly,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, said in a memo. “The reduction in maximum allotments for November is no longer in effect."

Join Our Fight to Protect Older Americans

Here’s what you can do to help:

Sign up to become an AARP activist for the latest news and alerts on issues you care about.
Find out more about how we’re fighting for you every day in Congress and across the country.
AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Become a member or renew your membership today.

States should also start the process for disbursing December payments, the USDA noted. SNAP benefits are typically paid to states weeks in advance of distribution to individuals, which is why October benefits went out on time.

New applications were accepted during the shutdown, but benefits for new participants have not yet been distributed.

SNAP provides critical food assistance to low-income Americans and helps reduce food insecurity. The program lifted 2 million older adults out of poverty in 2022, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute.

A ‘patchwork’ situation for SNAP payout

Federal funding has been restored, but its processing and distribution to eligible households is overseen by each state. Depending on the agility of a state’s computer systems, its manpower needs and whether it paid partial benefits out of its own funds during the shutdown, payout timelines will vary from state to state.

Most Popular

Back-and-forth between the Trump administration and the courts also led to confusion among states about whether they were permitted to pay even partial benefits during the shutdown. Some moved forward with doing so, while others let payments lapse.

About two-thirds of states issued only partial payments or none at all before the shutdown ended, according to an Associated Press tally. Most run SNAP out of their state offices, but 10 (California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin) administer SNAP at the county level.

Now, state and county SNAP administrators are working swiftly to compute outstanding payments and deliver them.

“As soon as we received authorization from the federal government, we immediately began working to get benefits out to the nearly 1.4 million people who depend on SNAP to keep food on the table,” said North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai in a statement.

But the process is not so simple.

“Many states will likely experience increased error rates due to the lack of or conflicting guidance provided by USDA during the shutdown, which left states confused and scrambling to issue benefits,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center, in a statement. “Already struggling with staffing shortages and complex federal reporting requirements, states were forced to recalculate benefits multiple times based on shifting USDA instructions.”

The USDA acknowledged that given November’s “implementation challenges,” it will not hold states accountable for quality control issues that arise as they work to pay out benefits.

Advocates, beneficiaries fear future disruptions

Some beneficiaries may have already received their payments, while others should see them in the coming weeks.

For example, Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services told beneficiaries on Thursday that SNAP payments will be issued as quickly as possible, and all November benefits should be received by the weekend. In other states, like Illinois, officials expect it to take about a week.

States like Ohio and Missouri said they have begun calculating adjusted benefits and sending them to vendors for payout, but do not have an expected issue date.

Advocates warn that future disruptions to SNAP remain a possibility.

The stopgap budget measure signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 12 funds SNAP through September 2026. Uncertainty over whether the USDA could use emergency funds to cover benefits was never fully resolved by the courts before the shutdown ended, leaving unanswered questions about how similar situations would be handled in the future.

Moreover, the anxiety created by the delays in payment lingers for the millions of older adults whose food aid was suspended.

“This whole system that’s been regular — operating in every state predictably — is now operating differently,” said Karen Ehrens, U.S. policy manager for the Alliance to End Hunger. “This is the first time this has ever happened in 60 years of SNAP.”

The USDA is already pushing states to be prepared for future disruptions.

“States are strongly encouraged to begin the process of upgrading systems and updating state procedures as necessary to allow for more rapid distribution of reduced allotments in the event that available appropriations are insufficient to provide full allotments in any month,” the USDA noted in a statement.

If you’re still in need of food assistance, these resources can help.

%{postComment}%

Molly Snow is a writer for AARP covering advocacy issues and state news. She also writes AARP's Today's Tips podcast. She previously worked at other news outlets, including Federal Times, McClatchy and Gannett.