$23 Minimum Food Stamp SNAP Benefit Remains in 2024 For Many Seniors

With the end of the pandemic food stamp program (SNAP) boost, many single and dual person households are now only getting a measly $23 in monthly benefits!

This minimum food stamp amount did not change in the latest SNAP monthly allotment updates for FY2024 published by the USDA.

This benefit cut mainly affects seniors and veterans who tend to have smaller household sizes.

MINIMUM SNAP ALLOTMENTS
OCTOBER 1, 2023, TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
MINIMUM SNAP ALLOTMENTS for FY2024

According to the National council on aging (NCOA) the minimum monthly SNAP benefit will remain at $23 for most one- or two-person households after SNAP emergency allotments (EA) expire. This is despite the rapid rise in inflation over the last year.

This ridiculous minimum SNAP benefit amount has generated some rough comments on this site, some of which I have summarized below. There are now even more comments at the end of this article.

Try $23 a month!!! With the prices of food nowadays we seniors will be starving! This is when we should be living our best lives but we can’t. This new Congress is just as bad as the old one! Why is it they always want to cut Social Security and Medicare, when they don’t have to worry they’ll get paid regardless.

Ms Shay

I signed up for SNAP benefits and got $16 for one month and then the pandemic benefit kicked in, I’ve been getting the max which was $251. Now, the pandemic benefit is gone and I will get $23. How does this make sense. One day I’m allowed $8.33 per day for food and the next day I’m only getting $0.76.

Linda

The end of the pandemic SNAP boost will mean a cut of at least $95 (the minimum increase) for many households, but when you factor in the record COLA increase for senior citizens this year social security benefits (income) then the SNAP benefit cut could be over $250 for some senior households.

I myself am disabled, can not drive, have to depend on others to purchase my supplies, and take me to appointments.

I am also now getting $23 a month from food stamps. I know of no where in this country where someone can live on $23 a month.

I am eating something small for breakfast, no lunch, and something small for dinner. No treats, no eggs, no extras. If covid becomes crazy again, I will literally starve. I hope someone in charge is paying attention, your senior citizens need HELP!

Brenda

As a point of reference, $23 a month can barely buy you 4 regular coffee at Starbucks, 2 chipotle meals and maybe a few meals at McDonalds or Taco Bell. It is well below federal poverty guidelines (FPL).

Even if you shop for basic groceries and foods at Amazon and Walmart, it will only get you by for a week at most.

So its not surprising the anger the $23 minimum SNAP benefit is generating among seniors and those impacted who rely on these government benefits programs to make ends meet.

I’ve had two heart attacks in the last eighteen months and am working for $8 an hour because I can’t go over that and keep my Medicaid which i need desperately…My snap benefits are dropping from $281 a month to $23!! How do they expect someone to live on that???? They did not cut Their Pay!!!

Dovie

Ultimately most people won’t be able to rely on SNAP benefits and will have to turn to various other state and federal benefit programs.

It will get even more challenging to pay for health related and basic housing/living costs, as pandemic support is further withdrawn for related programs.

Fortunately some states, like New Jersey, are implementing minimum monthly SNAP benefits ($95) and it is likely other states will follow suit.

This issue has also turned political, but like Patty said in her comment, this is a bipartisan failure!

This is not a Biden or Dems issue…he was responsible for the extensions on pandemic benefits under Covid Stimulus packages. He also extended the eviction moratorium as long as possible to keep people from being evicted and halt rent increases on low income individuals. But those programs expire in March and were voted that way by the new House of Representatives (McCarthyites).

You think democrats would eliminate social programs that help the underprivileged you are sadly mistaken…McCarthy and his cronies reversed the spending bill as their first order of business and now they are coming for your Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. Get $23 a month from SNAP starting March 2023 and on disability for congestive heart failure.

My dad is a veteran. Barely, barely gets by on what he has. I tell him to apply for benefits and they give him $23. $23? Someone should be ashamed of themselves. I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of my country, I’m ashamed of my government. Who? Who ever came up with that number NEVER had to fight, scrape, skimp, bleed or sweat a day in their lives. So you know no matter how you cut it, people are hungry tonight. Shame.

Hungry American

What are your thoughts or your experience?

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43 thoughts on “$23 Minimum Food Stamp SNAP Benefit Remains in 2024 For Many Seniors”

  1. who in power will help us fight this $23 month snap allotment, humiliation for the seniors! $23 month for food for 2 people living on social security! we worked our whole lives ,my husband is a Vietnam era combat veteran. the govt. who is ignoring our pleas spends more on coffee and donut than we get for a month! families with children all got a raise in snap this last Oct. but not the seniors on this ridiculous minimum amount! now we fight to get registered for the free food distributions that most of the time you can’t even get into,the phone lines stay busy and when they do pick up you are told registration is closed.

    Reply
    • The immigrants get housing insurance snap we American pay taxes and the elders can’t get nothing ,no fair

      Reply
    • This is despicable and shameful for Seniors Veterans and those who are alone!
      Protest these obscene amounts write to your Congress Person, State Representatives if we don’t say anything about this it will continue. Yet immigrants are receiving benefits but nothing much for citizens!
      You need to hang your heads in shame !

      Reply
  2. Im a senior 67
    Struggling also a widow
    $23 now $25 with the “raise”
    Is a disgrace for the richest country in the world. I go to bed most nights hungry and I wake up hungry I didn’t expect to spend my retirement like this struggling and hungry and no hope for a better future.

    Reply
  3. How can you sleep worrying how can you buy groceries for a whole month with 23.00? Who stupid idea was this? Seriously, with all the money the government put in his pockets taken from us? He should be ashamed of himself. Must be nice to eat 3 good meals a day. Shame on you!!!

    Reply
  4. If you make the max amount of ssi which is $914 a month from employment you will get $230 in food stamps. It’s because we are disabled or elderly and on ssi, that we get $23 a month.

    Reply
  5. I really would like to know who in their bright mind thought $23 a month in food assistance can feed the average American for a full month! This is disgraceful! I have never been more ashamed of my government.

    Reply
    • Judi i too get 23.oo a month really i that i was the only one food is so high i can’t buy nothing with that i am not happy at all being disabled and all the bills i have to pay medicine to this not fair i wish someone would live on $23.00 a month are governments. Just think of not helping us disabled people. We need at least 28l.00 350 00 .

      Reply
    • I am single and 67 years old, I received the full amount for a single person for food stamps.. Then I moved into a HUD senior subsidized apartment and they took all my food stamp money away except for $16/mo. Then covid hit and I got $281/mo for food stamps unitl March of this year when they reduced my monthly amount to $23mo. You tell me how in the world can you live on $23 a month for food. Twenty years ago my budget for food a month was $300, that did not include eating out. Tell me how in the hell can one live on $23/mo for food. And now that we are seniors we have to buy healthy food due to health isssues. I’d like to see congress survive on this $23/mo.

      Reply
      • If you moved from out of state, you received a higher benefit than you get in Florida. It wasn’t because you moved into a HUD subsidized housing (I think). Most seniors only qualify for the $23/mo because they do not work and have small household size.

        Reply
        • if a family of 4 gets $915. mo snap then a family of 2 seniors on Social Security should get $457 that is half of the $915 someone in power can’t do math!!

    • we are in NY and get $23 a month snap allotment for two of us! who will listen this is so sad and ridiculous, my husband is a veteran of the Vietnam era and what respect does he get? $23 month? those that made up this stupid amount spend more than that on one breakfast!

      Reply
  6. The $23 in food assistance is nothing more than a slap in the face by our Government.
    No one to help us, no one cares. I know they stopped the extra food assistance money but they should not have, there is also triple inflation in the stores so $23 will get you practically nothing. Commodity food will not offer fresh meats or vegetables, everything is boxed or canned. Who is out there to help us? We get the very bare amount of food assistance, but not all of us seniors just some of us single seniors. Nothing ever posted on how they intend to help us with this issue because as long as they get what they want for themselves and their friends is all they care about and it is obvious.

    Reply
  7. I’m also a senior citizen who lost her husband last year. Not only did I lose the majority of social security after he died, now I am only receiving $1600 a month and only $23 in SNAP. What is even the point with that small amount? After I pay rent, car insurance, gas, pet food and sundries, I have little for anything else, particularly food. If I were not living in a shared home with my daughter and her family, I would starve. The effort it takes to input this isn’t even worth the money, so why are they even bothering? I guess seniors are, as with poor people across this country, going to starve. It’s despicable. Every day I worry about how I am going to make ends meet and how I can eat to maintain proper nutrition. I spend most days becoming distressed over food. In the richest country in the world.

    Reply
    • But the younger set who are eligible for free daycare get 100’s$$$ on food stamps. They are also eligible to go to school and learn a trade with free daycare. Am I missing something here?

      Reply
      • There’s long wait lists for daycare, and it still isn’t free. They usually get it subsidized so that it only costs $100/week or something per child. They can’t get it unless they are working, so they have to be working full-time, have children, and be low incme enough to still be eligibile for a childcare subsidy.

        That said, it’s still ridiculous that low income seniors get $23/mo on food stamps. I realize it’s supposed to be a supplement, but at this rate, it’s barely even a coupon!

        Reply
  8. $23 in Food Stamps is a disgrace to humanity. Just because $23 is the lowest amount of Food Stamps u can get to stay on food stamps & a household size of 1 for seniors is that what I would get if I was younger? Screw the cost of living that u get on SSDI for 2023. U have to buy food with that money DUE TO the Pandemic amount being pulled out from under us. I guess I will have to use a credit card to buy food since I can’t seem to get it any other way. I have been doing that as soon as I found out we were losing the Emergency Pandemic (SNAP) is what they call it in OH. Some of my CC’s have almost been maxed out & I can no longer afford to pay the minimal amount. I guess they will have to take my cards away then what will I do after that??? It’s a viscous cycle that has got me into a bind but let the CC companies take my credit line away. I can’t say I didn’t try to get food the only way I knew how. NOW WHAT??? Ever since I heard that we were losing the FS I haven’t stopped crying ever since. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP US!!!

    Reply
  9. Yes, I would like them to live on $23 a month food stamps, what that gets you is 1 dozen eggs,1 gallon of milk and 1 loaf of bread for a month. 12 eggs…even if you split 1 scrambled egg between 3 meals a day you still cannot make it last a month! Yet they are eating lobster in Washington and leaving $23+ tips in restaurants.

    Reply
  10. Please help us, the lowest amount of food stamps for one person should be at least $100 a month, not $23 a month.
    Please help us. All we want to do is to afford to eat.
    I’m scared.

    Reply
    • I’m 32, and I have all kinds of mental health issues that sometimes makes it hard for me to go out in public, but I still manage. I too only get 23$ a month, and right now I’m sitting with an empty bank account, almost out of food in the house, and no food stamps left to even get a loaf ofbread. I don’t understand how anyone, young or old, is supposed to survive on this. Please, for the love of all that is sacred and pure, help us! We all just want to survive, and not have to starve to death. Even 60$ would be more helpful than 23$, anything that all. It is getting to the point where I am going to have to go against my disabilities to try to find a job that I can do comfortably that won’t put me back into an institution, or give me a heart attack because of stress.

      Help the people please.

      Reply
  11. I work my whole life 16 years old and ever stop. Now 60 with Lumbar Spondylitis I can’t lift ,walk right ,sit .Because of all my hard jobs. And I get treated like dirty. Have to wait months to see if you get SSDI. And Now only 23 in snap. Something needs to be done. We are the ones who did work ,raise are family. Had homes .A New Law has to be made for the senior. Everyone in office are 70 , if now older. Take away all there benefits ,lets see if they can make it. WE are the ones who make people rich .Singer, actors. Lets just stop. Buying and watching them. We should strike. Someone out there help. Its like we live in a poor county. WE been paying for years into Social Security. Then you make our health Insurance high Shame on all of you.

    Reply
    • I feel you’re pain Linda,like you I worked many years over half my lifetime until health issues led to my retirement.you see now that these politicians don’t give a crap about us and the 23$ snap benefit is the ultimate insult.I honestly believe believe this will lead to desperation and crime will rise!

      Reply
      • I totally agree with you. I was beyond shocked when I found out my benefits have been reduced from $281 to $23.
        What I don’t understand is why my son’s fiance who does have one child is still getting $516 a month??
        This will most definitely lead to people stealing food just to survive.

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  12. I have been on wait list for senior housing for six yrs. Majority of my ck goes to rent, utilities… I don’t even have Medicare part B becuz i can’t afford it. Get too much for slimby/quimby assistance. We have millions for Ukraine, illegals, military , and israel, but 23. for seniors/vets. Amerikkka should hanging its head in shame. Disabled, no car, no way to get to food banks, much less stand in line. My only saving grace, i was getting 112. before, and that’s how i spent pandemic stamps, so i have good amt of stamps saved. I tried to warn friends not to be frivolous, cuz this day was coming.
    Add to that, grocers got use to billions in extra dollars, so am sure they will raise prices even higher to gouge us. America, i hardly know ye.

    Reply
  13. $23 a month for a senior or disabled person is absolutely ridiculous !! Let’s put the other foot in the grave as we eat cheap hot dogs, rice and beans Really USA ??? So there are food banks and Meals on Wheels. Much of food at food banks is expired or produce going bad! Many seniors and disabled do not drive. And they don’t deliver. Meals on Wheels is just terrible. My dog and my cat turns their nose up to it. Perhaps our government leaders can have a Meals on Wheels luncheon and give feedback on taste $23 minimum is an insult to our seniors, disabled and veterans!!

    Reply
    • I so agree with Sherri. The politicians should live on what they giving us. We are going without to line there pockets and for the to live high on the hog.

      Reply
      • Remember in 2020 when Pelois did that interview on CBS? Showing off her dual $23k freezers filled with $13+ a pint ice creams?

        People keep voting for that.

        Reply
        • People, I agree with all of you…
          Been working all my life, I’m 69 disabled that I can’t work,
          It’s crazy trying to make ends meet, as I see it they cut us back to give it to the freeloaders crossing the border…not getting into how I feel about that….but you have to take care of your own before taking care of anyone else…close the borders and send them all back…look at the time line, the political agenda thoe criminals have is disgusting.

  14. Kentucky lawmakers had voted to end the state’s health emergency last spring, by default cutting food stamp benefits created to help vulnerable Americans weather the worst of covid-19. Instead of $200 a month, many would get just $30.

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  15. The goverment don’t care about Americans! They act like we didn’t EARN our social security. This is not a hand out!
    Seniors and veterans are going hungry while the idiots keep sending money to Ukraine! They don’t get to have our tax money!
    The goverment spends it on illegals also! They don’t deserve our money either! Spend that money on AMERICANS THEY ARE GOING HUNGRY and homeless!

    Reply
  16. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without my extra food stamps. I’m 60 years old and disabled. I know the extra food stamps was supposed to only last during the pandemic. The problem is the price of food is so high right now I can’t afford to buy eggs milk etc…. I live in Pennsylvania does anyone know of any type of programs I can apply for to get help with food.

    Reply
  17. No other civilzed Western style government treats their seniors and lower income citizens as poorly as the USA. As a Social Security recipient I did get a decent increase for 2023, however, due to that, my SNAP benefits have dropped far more then the increase I recieve monthly. What will 23 dollars buy in this inflated market. Writing to our congress person only results in a generic response so it’s almost fruitless, no pun intended, to reach out to our elected officials. I am thankful for Social Security and Medicare. Sadly there are members of Congress that feel it should not exist.

    Reply
    • That “increase” in social security was due to inflation, not because they decided to give you more. If members of congress do not respond well to you, then you need to get others to vote for someone else instead of just blindly voting for the same person over, and over.

      Reply
  18. I was receiving $29 a month in snap benefits and after the first of the year when we received a raise on our SSI I now receive $23 ..!!!..it’s freaking ridiculous how seniors..and veterans are treated In this country..!!..I would happily work again if I were physically able but after working blue collar factory jobs for so many years my body can’t do it anymore..I have never in my entire life ever had to worry about food and paying bills until this point in my life and this country doesn’t care about us older Americans..if we could leave and return as immigrants we could start our own businesses and have it made..!!..they don’t realize the struggle we go through just to get a meal and survive..!!

    Reply
  19. What happened to that $200 a month boost for Social Security Democrats promised in 2022? Remember that next election.

    Reply

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