SNAP Payment Error Rates are a Warning for States
States must continue to improve and protect the integrity of our nation's social safety nets to ensure that they can continue to support our most vulnerable citizens.
A recent USDA announcement is a wake-up call for state legislators. The 2025 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment error rate (PER) was 10.62%, representing $10.1 billion of improper payments made nationwide. State lawmakers must address this issue, as the states will soon be held accountable and financially liable under recently passed federal legislation.
PER’s are used to measure how accurately states determine eligibility and calculate benefit amounts. This includes both overpayments and underpayments, when a household gets more or less than they are entitled to. These are administrative mistakes identified under the SNAP Quality Control system. This is not fraud, but it still undermines the program’s integrity. Underpayments harm the low-income families who rely on the program, and overpayments waste taxpayer dollars and cause public distrust. This must be addressed.
The One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1), signed into law last year, requires that states with PERs of 6% or higher have a cost-sharing percentage for the SNAP program. This will be the first time that the federal government does not completely fund SNAP. States with PERs between six and eight percent will be responsible for funding 5% of the program; between eight and ten percent PER will fund 10% of the program; and greater than 10% will fund 15% of the program. Those states will also be required to submit a Corrective Action Plan and may be liable for additional financial penalties.
The 2025 PER rate is the first year that could be used to calculate those percentages, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2027. States with a PER of 13.32% or higher have an extension to 2030. This means that if your state is currently meeting or surpassing the 6% threshold, then it is already at risk of incurring significant financial liability. Based on their state benefits, the lowest 5% bracket would result in over $3 million of additional, recurring spending for Wyoming, and over $627 million for California.
States can choose either their 2025 or 2026 PER to determine their cost-sharing percentage, so there is still time for states to take action to lower their PER for 2026 and prevent a large financial shock. The USDA offers support to state agencies that are actively trying to improve the accuracy of the program and has summarized some best practices from state listening sessions held in August 2023. The agency highlights the importance of timely feedback to applicants to prevent multiple submissions and increased backlog, staff recruitment and retention, and updating data and technology systems.
States must continue to improve and protect the integrity of our nation’s social safety nets to ensure that they can continue to support our most vulnerable citizens. As we work towards this goal, state legislators must be aware of the upcoming changes and take proactive steps to meet the congressional threshold and minimize or prepare for the financial impact on their state budgets.