A sign informs customers entering the POD Market in the Honors, Scholars & Fellows House at Florida State University that the store now has an EBT Terminal.

Funding has nearly run dry for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), leaving millions of Americans without food assistance come November because of the ongoing government shutdown.

SNAP, also called food stamps, is a federal program that provides monthly benefits for low-income people to access healthy food.

Because the program – which is paid for by the federal government – sends out benefits monthly, the lapse in funding did not impact recipients for October.

But without an end in sight, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the program, said there are no funds available to send out SNAP benefits come Nov. 1. This has led to some Democratic-led states suing President Donald Trump's administration in an effort to stop the suspension of the SNAP program.

Despite a shutdown plan stating that the USDA has a reserve of contingency funds that can be used to pay recipients directly, the agency said it can't use contingency money because regular benefits have not yet been allocated, per a letter shared with USA TODAY on Monday, Oct. 27.

Who's going to feel the impact of SNAP benefits running out? Here's a look at the data.

How many Americans use SNAP, or food stamps?

More than 42 million people across more than 22 million households relied on SNAP benefits every month during fiscal year 2025, according to the USDA.

In total, that means around 12% of the more than 342 million people in the United States utilize the benefits.

How many adults, children rely on food stamps?

According to the USDA's fiscal year 2023 report on the SNAP program, its latest annual data, the largest age bracket of those who relied on the benefits were adults ages 18 to 59.

However, children accounted for about 39% of the people who received the benefits, according to the data.

See number of SNAP recipients by state

California, Texas and New York have the most people receiving benefits per month, according to May 2025 data from the USDA. See the full breakdown by state:

How much money do SNAP recipients get?

In fiscal year 2025, the average monthly benefit per person in the SNAP program was $190.59, per USDA. For households, the average monthly benefit was $356.41 in total.

However, the exact amount of money that each SNAP recipient gets per month depends on their income and household size, so it varies per person.

Millions more rely on WIC, other programs

SNAP is the largest food assistance program in the country, accounting for about 70% of USDA's nutrition assistance spending in fiscal year 2024, according to the agency.

However, there are also many other food assistance programs run by the government, such as:

  • The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program provides services for at-risk children under 5 years old, as well as pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people.
    • According to the USDA, WIC served about 6.7 million participants each month in fiscal year 2024, including an estimated 41% of all infants in the United States.
  • The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free lunches to children.
    • According to the USDA, NSLP provided more than 4.8 billion lunches in fiscal year 2024.

The impacts of the government shutdown on programs like WIC, NSLP and the many others backed by the government vary depending on the program.

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who will be impacted by food stamps running out? SNAP recipients by the numbers.

Reporting by Melina Khan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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