Arizona Sees Highest Food Stamp Reduction in Nation After Federal SNAP Law Changes

A volunteer fills up a vehicle with food boxes at the St. Marys Food Bank on June 29, 2022, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona is experiencing the sharpest decline in food stamp recipients in the United States following federal policy changes, with participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dropping by 32% statewide according to new analysis.

The decline comes after Congress approved HR 1, the Big Beautiful Bill, which expanded work requirements to cover able-bodied single adults up to age 65 and shifted more administrative costs to states.

But Arizonas situation is particularly dire: A report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says the state saw a 32% drop in SNAP participation nationwide since the federal law was enacted. That translates to about 6% nationally according to USDA figures, but a staggering 32% in Arizona.

More recent data from the state Department of Economic Security shows an even sharper 47% decrease, a reduction of more than 400,000 recipients, including 180,000 children. That leaves fewer than 490,000 Arizona SNAP recipients as of February.

The drop in the program that provides benefits averaging $312 per month for all households and $520 for households with children raises questions about whether the state is doing too much screening to meet federal error rate requirements.

Gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater said some of the decline is due to requirements in HR 1, which contained a number of changes to the SNAP program, including expanding work requirements to cover able-bodied single adults up to age 65.

It also included shifting more of the costs of administering the program to states.

But that is not all. The program requires states that do not bring their error rates down below that 6% mark to pick up anywhere from 15% to 100% of the actual cost of benefits, which until now have been fully paid by Washington.

In the 2023-2024 budget year, Arizona had an 8.8% error rate. But for the last fiscal year it was projected to be 10.4%.

A report by the state Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting pointed out that it is still below the national average of 10.9%. But even then, the report said that if the error rate remains at 8.8%, the state could have to cover $195.4 million in the 2027-2028 fiscal year.

And if the error rate hits 10%, that figure could reach nearly $300 million.

None of these penalties are unique to Arizona. But Slater said what happened here and at least part of the reason for the sharp decline in recipients is complicated by two things.

One is that even before HR 1, about 500 workers at the state Department of Economic Security about 5% of the workforce were laid off in the summer of 2025, a move the state blamed on other federal budget cuts.

That came at the expense of eligibility workers, with DES saying the number of workers who reviewed food stamps eligibility dropped by 1,370 in July 2024 to 880 this past July.

And an agency spokesman said it was processing an estimated 54,000 new and renewal applications, of which 18,000 were taking more than 30 days.

And that gets to the other half of the problem.

Slater said that Arizona, aware of the penalties for not getting its error rate down, was proactive in doing the greater checks to ensure that only those eligible under the new HR 1 rules are getting the aid.

But with fewer staff, that resulted in some applications and renewals being delayed or denied outright when people could not provide the required information, with people dropping off the rolls.

In December, Gov. Katie Hobbs responded by earmarking $7.5 million in unused federal COVID-19 funds to address what she called staffing constraints at DES.

That included hiring temporary workers to expand the agency capacity to verify applicants income.

But even with all that, the data the new report cites from DES shows a continued sharp decline in food stamp recipients, down from 598,852 in December to 485,460 in February.

And there is something else.

Slater said that other states, for whatever reason, may not have yet made the same changes as Arizona in screening to reduce their error rates.

And he predicted that the decline in the number of food stamp recipients now showing up in Arizona is just a precursor of what will be reflected in data from other states in the coming months.

That is also the assessment of DES spokesman Brett Bezio.

It is important to note that we believe most of the impact of the changes from HR 1 has been realized, and we will begin to see consistency in the SNAP caseload in the months ahead, he said.

As other states fully implement the provisions of HR 1 and Arizona stabilizes, we expect differences in caseload decline between other states to more closely align.

Bezio also said that Hobbs has requested an additional $48.4 million for the agency for the coming budget year, including 146 new employees.

He said that it should cut delays as well as help ensure the state gets below the error rate at which point there would be penalties.

There is, of course, a political angle to all of this.

Slater said what is happening in Arizona and what he believes will soon occur in other states is precisely what was intended by the Trump administration.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in announcing a 3.3 million reduction in SNAP recipients, called it a signal that the federal government is once again working for the American public.

But it is not just the president.

Slater noted that every Republican in the states congressional delegation voted for HR 1 including the food stamp provisions.

Republican Congressman David Schweikert, however, had his own take on the sudden drop in SNAP recipients.

States were incentivized to reduce errors and manage benefits efficiently, he said of HR 1.

But he said that 10.4% error rate in the most recent fiscal year meant that Arizona had to do a lot more culling of ineligible recipients.

Arizona outsized reductions are a clear outlier, demonstrating the management failures of this governor, said Schweikert, who is hoping to oust Hobbs in November.

He also pointed out something else about the situation.

Schweikert said the state had to be aggressive in verifying eligibility because of the federal penalties for not meeting error rate requirements.

The state had to be aggressive in screening to avoid those penalties, he said.

And that aggressiveness is what is causing the sharp drop in recipients.

The situation highlights the tension between federal policy incentives and their real-world impact on Arizona families seeking nutrition assistance.