SNAP (food support) in Minnesota

Where this sits: Benefits › Programs › SNAP. Related: MFIP, Energy Assistance, child support and SNAP.

Ask first

1. Who lives with the person and buys and prepares food with them, and the household's monthly income before taxes.
2. Does anyone under 14 live in the home? Is the person pregnant, or American Indian or Alaska Native?
3. Is the person unable to work for medical reasons?
4. Which county? (Some areas are waived from the time limit.)
5. Has the person applied for or are they getting unemployment insurance?

Also ask whether the family is on MFIP, and, for anyone not a U.S. citizen, their immigration status.

What SNAP is

SNAP is the federal food benefit, once called Food Support or food stamps. It comes monthly on an EBT card and buys approved food in approved stores, not alcohol, tobacco or pet food.

It is for single people and families. The household is the people who live together and buy and prepare meals together. Families on MFIP get their food help as part of MFIP instead of SNAP.

Who qualifies

• Income: most households qualify with gross income at or under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines (and receiving the state's domestic violence information brochure); then there is no asset test and no net income test. Households where everyone gets GA, MSA or SSI qualify automatically. A household with an elderly or disabled member has no gross income limit, but over 200% it must pass an asset limit and a net income test at 100%. A few households (for example, with a member disqualified for an intentional program violation) face an asset test and stricter limits. Qualifying can still mean a $0 benefit for some larger households. For one person, the gross income limit is $2,660 a month, and the most SNAP pays one person is $306 a month (October 2026 figures); the benefit is the maximum minus 30% of net income.
• Time limit for adults 18 to 64: unless exempt, they must work or do approved activities at least 80 hours a month, or they get SNAP for only 3 months in a fixed 36-month period. Exempt: anyone in a household with a member under 14, pregnant people, 16- and 17-year-olds not living with a parent, Refugee Cash Assistance participants working with refugee employment services, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and people medically unable to work. Anyone exempt from SNAP's general work rules is also not time-limited (except people 60 to 64): for example an illness, injury or disability, a substance use disorder, homelessness, domestic violence, caring for an ill person or a child under 6, working 30 hours a week, receiving or applying for unemployment insurance and following its rules, complying with MFIP, half-time school, or regular addiction treatment. Exempt people still follow SNAP's general work rules. Counties or reservations with a waiver are not subject to the limit. The current 36-month period runs from 2026-01-01 to 2028-12-31.
• Immigration status: citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents (after 5 years in that status, or with an exception), Cuban and Haitian entrants, and citizens of the Compact of Free Association countries. An ineligible member's income still counts for the others.

How to apply

Apply online at MNbenefits or with the paper Combined Application Form (CAF, DHS-5223) at the county or Tribal agency; any Minnesota county must accept it. If the need is urgent, ask for expedited SNAP: it must be issued by the 7th day after applying. One way to qualify is under $150 of monthly income and $100 or less in cash and bank accounts. People who may qualify must be offered a same-day interview.

How it fits with other programs

• MFIP: no one gets MFIP's food portion in a month they got SNAP. A family applying for MFIP may get SNAP first if MFIP can't be approved within 7 days; MFIP's food portion is then reduced for those months.
• SNAP opens other help: being eligible for SNAP at any amount, even $0, can qualify a household for Energy Assistance, phone discounts, subsidized housing, SNAP-Ed and WIC.
• Energy Assistance: receiving more than $20 of energy assistance in the past year raises SNAP's utility deduction, but since November 2025 only for households with an elderly or disabled member.
• Medical Assistance: being on SNAP and subject to its work rules exempts a person from MA's work requirements that start 2027-01-01.

Recent changes

• 2026-03-01, immigrants (federal law P.L. 119-21): for new applications from that date, and for existing cases at their next recertification. Refugees, asylees, Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parolees, trafficking victims, people granted withholding of removal, American Indians born in Canada, battered spouses and children, and people paroled for a year or more lost SNAP. Families with these statuses can still get MFIP, with a state-funded food portion. The state-funded Minnesota Food Assistance Program did not change.
• Time limit widened: the parent exemption now covers only a child under 14, and the limit runs to age 64 in Minnesota's manual. The federal text exempts people "over 65", which leaves age 65 unclear. The date Minnesota started applying the change is not known to this site.
• November 2025: the utility deduction change above.
• Also federal: internet costs no longer count as a housing cost for the shelter deduction. Separately, the state's share of SNAP costs rises from 2026-10-01 (administration) and 2027-10-01 (benefits); those affect state budgets, not a household's eligibility.

Not covered here

Benefit amounts and how they are computed, deductions, who must be in the household, students, reporting and renewal, and SNAP Employment and Training. For child support and SNAP, see child support and SNAP. For anything else, the county or Tribal agency decides.