H.R. 1, the federal reconciliation bill enacted on July 4, 2025, cut federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $187 billion over a 10-year period. In the first five months after H.R. 1 was passed, participation in Florida’s SNAP fell by roughly 10 percent — or over a quarter million people (277,513).[1] SNAP’s plummeting caseload is a blow to Florida. Not only is the program the state’s most important tool in fighting hunger among Floridians with low income, but it is also an economic boon to local communities where people spend their benefits.
Among other cuts that were effective July 4, 2025, H.R. 1 significantly limits the categories of lawfully present immigrants who can qualify for benefits and imposes new counterproductive SNAP time limits on people who are not working at least 20 hours a week.[2] It also shifts extensive costs from the federal government to states participating in SNAP by increasing each state’s share of administrative expenses beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2027. States with SNAP error rates[3] of 6 percent or higher will be forced to pay a percentage of the grocery benefits provided to eligible families as early as FY 2028, although states with high error rates may qualify for a temporary delay until as late as 2029 or 2030.[4] Under these new restrictions, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) estimates that roughly 9,753 lawfully present immigrants in the state became ineligible for food assistance after H.R. 1 was enacted. Other Floridians lost benefits under H.R. 1’s expansion of work-reporting requirements, which almost immediately put the benefits of roughly 181,217 current participants in the state at risk. Still other Floridians may have been tripped up by DCF’s attempts to reduce its error rate through new procedures for verifying shelter and utility costs that make it difficult for some families to prove their housing expenses.
SNAP caseloads had already begun to fall nationwide — and in Florida — even before H.R. 1’s effective date. In the year prior to H.R. 1’s enactment, the number of Floridians participating in SNAP dropped by about 3.2 percent.[5] This initial decline was likely due to early actions by the federal government that diminished access to the program, such as rescinding equity initiatives, the government shutdown in late 2025, the decision by Congress to end protections for SNAP participants whose benefits are stolen, and USDA’s efforts to access sensitive personally identifiable information about SNAP participants.
Still, the decline in Florida’s SNAP caseload only accelerated after H.R. 1’s enactment. Every county in Florida experienced a significant drop in SNAP in 2025 after H.R. 1 was passed, with the highest rate of decline (roughly 14 percent) occurring in Monroe and Collier counties. (See Figure 1 and Table 1.) Since then, the decline in SNAP participation has escalated. In January 2026 alone, Florida’s SNAP caseload dropped by about 20,000 more people.
It is not uncommon for Florida’s SNAP caseload to fluctuate over time. Ordinarily, when job prospects deteriorate, the state’s SNAP caseload increases. This is because, when unemployment is trending upward, more Floridians need help buying groceries until they can find a stable job. In 2020, both unemployment and SNAP participation in Florida increased simultaneously due to loss of jobs during the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. (See Figure 2.) Conversely, a drop in SNAP participation coincides with a decline in the state’s unemployment rate, which is an indicator of a stronger economy. For example, Florida experienced a decline in both its SNAP caseload and unemployment rate in 2021 as the job market improved after the pandemic. However, a strong economy is not the cause of Florida’s latest caseload decline. Instead, the SNAP cuts in H.R. 1 are triggering a loss of benefits for people who still need help. This decline comes at a time when Floridians are experiencing heightened need due to increased unemployment and the high cost of food.
SNAP caseloads in Florida are now at their lowest in over 15 years.[6] (See Figure 3.) The plunge in participation will only increase as DCF continues implementing H.R. 1 and intensifies efforts to lower its error rate in an attempt to avoid having to pay for grocery benefits.
Reduction in SNAP participation has myriad negative impacts on households struggling to put food on the table and in the neighborhoods where SNAP participants live. Without SNAP, many families will be unable to afford a nutritionally adequate diet, which — in turn — will negatively impact their short- and long-term health, academic performance, and overall well-being while increasing their health care costs by an estimated $1,400 per participant every year. Counties and local communities will also be affected, as every $1 of SNAP spending generates $1.80 in economic activity that helps shore up local businesses. Unless Congress acts to reverse the cuts made to SNAP in H.R. 1, the ensuing caseload decline will continue to wreak havoc on growing numbers of Floridians in need and the communities where they live for years to come.
Notes
[1] Florida’s SNAP caseload in December 2025 was 2,609,325 compared to 2,886,838 in July 2025.
[2] USDA held states harmless in implementing H.R. 1’s new restrictions on immigrant eligibility until November 1, 2025. See “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 – Alien SNAP Eligibility,” https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/obbb-alien-eligibility.
[3] Error rates in the SNAP program are mostly unintentional mistakes made by families or DCF, and do not include fraud.
[4] Unless the state is able to lower its error rate, Florida’s high error rate would qualify it to delay cost sharing of grocery benefits until at least 2029.
[5] The decline in participation in the 12 months before H.R. 1 was enacted looks at June 2024 through June 2025.
[6] The last time that Florida’s SNAP caseload fell below Florida’s current level was in March 2010.
