Households on food stamps, officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, get an easier income test when someone in the home is 60 or older or has a disability. Those households skip the gross income test altogether and only have to come in under the net income limit, which is $1,804 a month for a couple. The limits started October 1 and run through September 30, 2027.
The Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service says on its SNAP eligibility page that a household with an elderly or disabled person only has to meet the net income limit. Net income is capped at 100% of the federal poverty level, or $1,330 a month for one person, $1,804 for two and $2,750 for four. Everyone else must also pass a gross test set at 130% of poverty, which is $1,729 for one person and $3,575 for four. The same page counts medical costs above $35 a month for elderly or disabled members as a deduction.
Gross income and net income are different numbers
Gross income is the full amount coming in before anything is subtracted: Social Security, a pension, wages, unemployment. Net income is what remains after SNAP’s allowed deductions come off. A retired couple with a pension and a Social Security check can look too high on gross income and still land under the net line once deductions are counted.
For a two-person household, the net line is $1,804 a month. Anyone in a home with a member 60 or older, or with a disability, should compare that figure to monthly income after deductions, not to the paycheck or benefit letter total. Households of one should use $1,330, and households of four $2,750.
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Here is how that plays out in a made-up example. A couple with $2,500 a month in combined Social Security and pension income is over the $2,345 gross line for two people. If rent, utilities and medical bills bring countable income to $1,700, the household is under $1,804 and, because one spouse is over 60, the gross figure no longer blocks the application.
Deductions count for more after 60
Two deductions work differently for older and disabled households. Most households can deduct housing costs only up to a cap, which is $769 for the 48 states and D.C. under the cost-of-living adjustments that took effect October 1. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains in its SNAP quick guide that the cap does not apply when at least one household member is an older adult or has a disability.
That matters for anyone paying high rent, a mortgage, property taxes or heating bills. USDA’s special rules for the elderly or disabled say all shelter costs over half of the household’s income may be deducted. Allowable medical costs above $35 a month can come off as well.
Savings limits are higher, too
SNAP also looks at savings. The Agriculture Department’s cost-of-living memo lists a limit of $3,000 in countable resources for most households and $4,750 when at least one member is 60 or older or disabled. A caseworker decides what counts in each state.
The same memo raises the minimum monthly benefit to $25 in the 48 states and D.C. Smaller households that land just under the net line may qualify for that minimum even when the full formula leaves little.
Where the time limit and the paperwork still apply
Turning 60 does not wipe out every rule. Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services says in a release on the new benefit amounts that covered adults are ages 18 through 64, so a 61-year-old who is not disabled can still face work requirements unless an exemption fits. The release adds that veterans and former foster youth ages 18 to 24 no longer qualify for an exemption.
The same release says households must provide proof of their shelter costs and utility responsibility. Without that proof, benefits are figured without the deductions, which can push net income over the line. A lease, a mortgage statement, a tax bill and a recent utility bill are the usual papers a caseworker asks for.
Does a household with someone 60 or older pass on net income alone?
The Food and Nutrition Service sets the federal rule, and the state agency that takes the application applies it. Anyone who wants to see the table of limits and the shelter, medical and savings rules in one place can find them on the USDA’s SNAP eligibility pages linked above.
For a household with an older or disabled member, the open question is the net figure after deductions. It comes down to whether $1,330 for one person, $1,804 for two or $2,750 for four sits above or below monthly income once shelter, medical and utility costs are counted. Gathering a typical month of bills and benefit letters first makes that math quick, and the application asks for the same papers.
Is the household’s net income under the line?
The most common slip for households with an older member is comparing the wrong number, using gross income against a net limit, or leaving out the shelter and medical bills that make net income smaller. Some people skip applying altogether because the first figure looks too high.
The Benefits Checklist covers SNAP food benefits at 60 and older alongside 10 other benefit programs, with the 2026 income limits, a 50-state phone directory and a printable tracker that comes with the download. Part 4 is devoted to SNAP, heating help and free weatherization, which are the programs most often stacked together in one household.
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
