Minnesota’s food stamp program started paying more of its own bills on October 1, 2026. The state’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families says Washington now covers 25 percent of what it costs to administer SNAP, down from 50 percent, which costs the state about $37 million a year.

A second, larger change is scheduled a year later. According to the department’s page on the 2025 federal law, a state share of benefit costs begins October 1, 2027, and if Minnesota had to cover the full 15 percent, the cost would be about $105 million in state fiscal year 2028 and $145 million in 2029. Under state law, half of that would fall on counties.

The page is about government budgets, not a household’s monthly benefit. For a Minnesota household, the question is which parts of the same 2025 law do change what a family receives or must do, and when. Those are the noncitizen eligibility limits that began March 1, 2026, the work requirements that began November 1, 2025, and a slower benefit formula from October 1, 2027, each described below.

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What the $37 million covers

SNAP benefits themselves are paid by the federal government. The work of taking applications, checking income and issuing cards falls on states and counties, and Washington has split that cost evenly. Since October 1, the federal share is a quarter, so the state must cover 75 percent. The department puts the federal reimbursements lost at $37 million a year, and SNAP outreach loses another $2.1 million.

How the 2029 figure of $145 million is built

The benefit-cost share starts October 1, 2027, and is tied to a state’s payment error rate, which USDA publishes each June. The department lists the tiers. A state with an error rate below 6 percent owes nothing, 6 to 7.99 percent owes 5 percent, 8 to 9.99 percent owes 10 percent, and 10 percent or higher owes 15 percent. States at 13.34 percent or higher are exempt for two years.

The $105 million and $145 million figures are the department’s estimate if Minnesota paid the full 15 percent. They are a ceiling set by the formula, not a bill that has been sent, and the real number depends on Minnesota’s error rate in the years ahead. Half of the cost would be billed to counties.

The changes that reach households

The department says about 440,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP. Several parts of the law touch them directly.

• Noncitizen eligibility narrowed March 1, 2026 to lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and residents of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. About 9,000 fewer Minnesotans in an average month will be eligible, including refugees, asylum grantees and certain trafficking victims.
• Work requirements expanded November 1, 2025 to adults through age 64, with the parent exemption limited to households with children under 14. About 18,000 more adults, roughly 4 percent of participants, are subject to them, most aged 55 to 64.
• Tribal Nation waivers drop from nine to three.
• Future benefit increases are tied to Consumer Price Index changes instead of actual food costs from October 1, 2027, which the department says would leave the 440,000 recipients with $5 less a month on average in 2027 than without that provision.

What Minnesota has not settled

Which counties would pay what, and how, is not laid out on the department’s page beyond the half-to-counties rule in state law.

The department’s page was last modified October 12, 2026, and it frames the federal changes as costs to Minnesota’s state and county budgets. What each county does with a 75 percent administrative bill is the open question for caseworkers and for the households who deal with them.

What should a Minnesota SNAP household set up before October 2027?

Minnesota’s administrative cut is already in force, and the benefit-cost share and slower benefit formula are scheduled for October 1, 2027. A household that misses a recertification or a reporting date in the meantime loses benefits no matter how the budget fight turns out.

The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer does not track state budgets. It tracks the dates a household has to keep, with 51 state packs and a renewal and reporting calendar, and it explains the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, which matters for adults through age 64.

Set up the Minnesota state pack and SNAP reporting calendar before the 2027 changes →

More Financial Reading

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.