An estimated 562,000 California CalFresh recipients will lose food assistance under the federal work rule, according to Assemblymember Alex Lee’s office. The San Jose Democrat’s office says roughly 47,000 people a month will lose benefits, starting in October 2026.
The numbers come from a press release dated Oct. 14, which says a total of 562,000 CalFresh recipients are estimated to lose their benefits. CalFresh is California’s name for SNAP, and the rule behind the estimate is a time limit on benefits for adults who are not working enough.
What the federal rule asks of adults on CalFresh
The release describes the rule this way: adults between the ages of 18 and 64, up from 18 to 54 before, must work at least 20 hours a week or lose benefits after three months in a three-year period. The exception for a household member caring for a dependent child now applies only when the child is under 14, down from under 18.
USDA confirms the same changes in a memo to state agencies. It says people aged 18 to 64 are now subject to the time limit, and that the changes took effect on enactment, July 4, 2025. The memo also notes that people aged 60 to 64 remain exempt from the general work requirements, even though the time limit reaches them.
The state has its own start date for the rules. The state’s CalFresh work rules page says that as of June 1, 2026, certain people have to meet the CalFresh work and community engagement requirements. Anyone on CalFresh between 18 and 64 should find out whether they fall inside that group, and whether their county is exempt, before the three-month clock runs out.
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Seven counties are exempt for now
The release says seven counties are exempt through October 31, 2027, and the state’s page names them as Colusa, Imperial, Kings, Merced, Monterey, Plumas and Tulare. The state says the time limit is waived in those counties from November 1, 2026. Alpine County’s waiver ends on October 31, 2026.
A waiver is narrower than it sounds. USDA’s waiver page says a waiver suspends the time limit but not the general work requirements. A recipient in a waived county therefore still has to handle the ordinary work rules, which have their own exemptions, but is not on the three-month clock.
The state’s page also lists who is excused from the three-month limit. The exemptions include being under 18 or over 64, being pregnant at any stage, living with a CalFresh household member under age 14, and being unable to work 20 hours a week because of a physical or mental health problem. People who identify as Indian, Urban Indian or California Indian are also exempt.
For older recipients the age line is the one to watch. A person who is 64 is inside the rule, and a person who turns 65 is outside it. The 2025 change moved that line up from 54. Adults in their late 50s and early 60s who were outside the rule before the 2025 change are now inside it. The USDA memo adds one cushion for ages 60 to 64: they remain exempt from the general work requirements, though not from the time limit itself, so the three-month clock still applies to them unless another exemption fits.
Why the number is an estimate, and not the only one
The 562,000 figure is a projection from Lee’s office, and the release uses the word estimated. An earlier projection came from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, which put the number of people estimated to be disenrolled at about 665,500 in an April 2026 handout. The same figure appears in a March 2026 presentation to an Assembly budget subcommittee.
The two numbers come from different estimates made at different times, so they are not a like-for-like comparison. What they share is the direction: tens of thousands of Californians a month could lose food aid once the clock runs out. Neither figure says who those people are, which is why checking an individual household matters more than the headline total.
What California is doing about the cost
The release also describes the state’s side of the bill. It says California must now cover 75% of administrative costs, up from 50% beginning in October 2026, and it points to $223 million for counties, along with $118 million for the CalFood program and $20 million to restart an extra CalFresh program in October 2026.
Those are the lawmaker’s figures, not a county-by-county plan. For a household, what counts is the notice from the county office: whether a work-hour requirement applies, how many months have been used, and which exemption, if any, has been recorded on the case.
Questions about a specific case go to the county that runs it, and the state’s CalFresh Information Line is 1-877-847-3663. Keeping a record of hours worked, proof of a health condition or a child’s age gives the county something concrete to put in the case file.
Wondering if the CalFresh time limit applies to a household in California?
The stake is a lost month of groceries. An adult between 18 and 64 who is not working 20 hours a week and who lives outside the seven waived counties can run out of CalFresh months without seeing it coming, and an exemption nobody reported does not help once the notice arrives.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer covers the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, in plain language. It adds a part on the 2025 work-rule change and state packs for all 51 states, so California’s version of the rule is laid out beside the dates and records a household needs to keep.
See the guide to the CalFresh work-rule time limit and who is exempt →
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.
