Where this sits: Benefits › Programs › MFIP. Related: SNAP, child care assistance, child support and MFIP.
Ask first
- Who is in the family: is there a child under 18 or a pregnancy? Family size and income, including any earnings.
- Citizenship or immigration status of each person.
- For someone already on MFIP with a sanction: how many months in a row they've been out of compliance, whether there was a reason (illness, no child care, family violence), and whether the sanction is for employment services or child support.
What MFIP pays
A monthly grant with a cash part and a food part, both on an EBT card. With no earnings, the grant is the "transitional standard" for the family's size. With earnings, it is the "family wage level" (110% of the transitional standard) minus net earned income. In the manual issued October 2026, a family of three has a transitional standard of $1,470 a month ($799 cash, $671 food) and a family wage level of $1,617. MFIP is a joint federal-state program, partly funded by federal TANF.
Who qualifies
- A minor child or a pregnant woman in the home.
- Income and assets under the limits: families leave MFIP when income reaches about 135% of the poverty guidelines; assets up to $10,000, with some exclusions.
- Minnesota residence, and citizen, qualified noncitizen, or noncitizen lawfully residing in the U.S.
- Child support rights assigned to the state.
- Fewer than 60 months of assistance in any state; extensions exist for people who are ill or incapacitated, hard to employ, or employed.
- Work rules: caregivers spend set hours each week in work or work activities under an employment plan. Plans are adjusted for people over 60, people who are ill or incapacitated, those caring for a disabled child, and family violence victims. For caregivers under 20, school usually comes first.
- Sanctions (since 2026-05-01): for each of the first six months in a row of noncompliance, the cash part is cut by 5% (a flat 5%, not growing). The seventh closes the case, cash and food, for at least a month. Only months from 2026-05-01 count. Complying by the 15th restores that month, and coming into compliance resets the count to zero. Not cooperating with child support cuts the cash part by 25%. How cases already sanctioned on 2026-05-01 were counted is unsettled (the statute and a state bulletin differ).
How to apply
Apply online at MNbenefits or with the paper Combined Application Form (CAF, DHS-5223) at the county or Tribal agency. The same form covers SNAP, GA, MSA, Housing Support and Emergency Assistance.
How it fits with other programs
- SNAP: MFIP's food part replaces SNAP; no one gets both in the same month. If MFIP can't be approved within 7 days, the family may get SNAP first.
- Child care assistance and Medical Assistance: MFIP families may qualify for both.
- Emergencies: a family eligible for or on MFIP can't get Emergency General Assistance; see Emergency Assistance.
- Medical Assistance work rules (2027): being on MFIP and subject to its work rules is an exemption.
- Child support is assigned to the state and passed through; see child support and MFIP.
Recent changes
- 2026-03-01, DWP ended. The Diversionary Work Program no longer exists; families go straight into MFIP. Its statute is repealed.
- 2026-03-01, immigrants (federal P.L. 119-21): for MFIP applications from that date and existing cases at their next six-month review or recertification. Refugees, asylees, Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parolees, trafficking victims and several other statuses who lost federal SNAP stay eligible for MFIP, with federal cash and a state-funded food part.
- 2026-05-01, sanctions reformed (above).
Not covered here
Income disregards, the housing grant, who is in the assistance unit, employment services and Family Stabilization Services, hardship extensions, child-only cases and Tribal TANF. For these, the county or Tribal agency decides.