Last month, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. To partially offset the cost of trillions of dollars in tax cuts, the legislation includes $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Research shows that SNAP reduces food insecurity and increases financial stability, which is critical for providing a stable foundation for young people as they transition to adulthood.

But OBBBA leaves the nearly 3 million young adults ages 18 to 24 who receive SNAP vulnerable to losing that assistance.

How could SNAP cuts affect young adults’ access to adequate food?

Here are three ways the changes to SNAP in OBBBA will likely affect young adults in the short and long terms:

1. Expanding work-reporting requirements could disproportionately reduce SNAP access for young adults. Under current rules, adults without disabilities or dependents can receive SNAP benefits for only three months every three years unless they verify they are working at least 80 hours per month or qualify for an exemption. OBBBA eliminates several categories of exemptions, including for people who are veterans, who have aged out of foster care, who are experiencing homelessness, and who are living in areas with limited job openings. 
   
   Research shows young adults can have difficulty meeting work requirements because of unstable and variable work hours and face acute challenges navigating the bureaucratic process of reporting their work. Young adults who are veterans, who are experiencing homelessness, and who aged out of foster care often have particularly acute challenges in the labor market and with benefit reporting. It’s unclear when these changes go into effect. Federal guidance is likely forthcoming.

   Evidence suggests that work-reporting requirements decrease access to SNAP without increasing work or wages. An Urban Institute analysis estimates that nearly 700,000 young adults would lose some or all of their benefits each month because of the OBBBA’s work requirement expansion. This is likely an undercount, as the analysis does not account for populations no longer exempt.

2. Restricting benefit-level increases will likely make it more challenging for young adults to afford healthy meals. In 2021, SNAP benefits increased after the minimum cost of a healthy diet was reevaluated for the first time since 2006. An Urban Institute analysis found the 2021 adjustment kept 2.9 million people out of poverty and reduced the overall poverty level by 4.6 percent. OBBBA requires future reevaluations of the SNAP benefits to be cost-neutral, even if government analysis determines that cost changes are needed because of changes in the food environment. 
   
   Another Urban Institute analysis shows that this requirement will exacerbate the growing gap between SNAP benefit levels—which are already inadequate in 99 percent of US counties—and the cost of modestly priced meals. This gap has grown in recent years because of food price inflation.

3. Shifting program costs to states will likely force cuts to SNAP benefits. OBBBA shifts SNAP program costs to states, which will likely lead to additional reductions in eligibility and benefits, leaving more young adults facing greater poverty and food insecurity. 
   
   Currently, the federal government pays 100 percent of the cost of SNAP benefits. OBBBA establishes matching-fund requirements for states beginning in fiscal year 2028, with an exception for states with exceptionally high error rates that grants these states the ability to delay cost sharing until fiscal year 2029 or 2030. States with SNAP payment error rates above 6 percent will have to pay for 5 to 15 percent of SNAP benefits, with matching amounts increasing with error rates. Only eight states reported an error rate less than 6 percent in fiscal year 2024, and these states have had higher error rates in the past. This means that most, if not all, states could be required to contribute at some point.

   Starting in fiscal year 2027, the legislation also requires states to pay 75 percent of administrative costs associated with their SNAP programs, up from about 50 percent currently. At the same time, OBBBA increases administrative costs of running SNAP programs by imposing new work-reporting requirements and increasing pressure for states to reduce payment error rates.

   It's unlikely that all states will raise sufficient revenue to cover these new costs. OBBBA does not permit states to reduce benefit levels below those in federal statute, meaning states that don’t meet their cost-share requirement would need to find other ways to cut SNAP spending, such as instituting additional red tape to reduce the number of people who successfully sign up. Given their challenges meeting such requirements, young adults would likely feel the brunt of these cuts. One Urban Institute analysis (PDF) estimates that a 10 percent cost share for states in a recession would leave 56,000 more people ages 18 to 24 in poverty because of expected SNAP cuts.

What can states do to support young adults as they implement OBBBA SNAP changes?

Taken together, the evidence suggests OBBBA will likely lead to increased food insecurity that will be particularly destabilizing for young people transitioning to adulthood.

As states consider how they will implement OBBBA’s changes, they should prioritize continued SNAP access for young adults who remain eligible and take steps to reduce access challenges young people are likely to experience.

States should work to streamline the process for documenting compliance with work-reporting requirements—particularly for people with unstable or complex work arrangements. They should also provide clear information about how people who may face physical or mental health challenges can qualify for exemptions from these requirements.