Every fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture resets the income lines that decide who qualifies for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and this year’s update includes a number that catches a lot of households off guard. Starting in October, a person living alone who is 60 or older or who has a qualifying disability can bring in up to $2,195 a month and still fall within SNAP’s reach. That is roughly $500 higher than the ceiling most other one-person households face, and the gap exists because federal rules test age- and disability-linked households differently than everyone else. People who assumed a Social Security check or a small pension put them over the line may want to look again.
The 165 Percent Test Behind the $2,195 Figure
The number comes from USDA’s fiscal year 2027 cost-of-living adjustment memo, dated August 21, 2026, which resets SNAP’s income tables for the fiscal year that begins October 1. Among the tables it updates is the gross income ceiling USDA sets specifically for households built around an elderly or disabled member: 165 percent of the federal poverty guideline. For a household of one, that ceiling rises to $2,195 a month on October 1, up from $2,152 today.
That is a notably higher bar than the one most applicants face. Everyone else has to clear the ordinary 130 percent gross income limit, which is $1,696 a month for a single person under the standards currently in effect. A household containing someone 60 or older, or someone who meets SNAP’s disability criteria, is measured against the higher standard instead — nearly $500 a month more room before the government even looks at deductions.
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Why the Ordinary SNAP Limit Doesn’t Apply Here
The 165 percent figure is not simply a more generous version of the gross income test. Under USDA’s rules for households with elderly or disabled members, a household made up entirely of people 60 or older, or people who meet SNAP’s disability definition — including anyone receiving Supplemental Security Income, Social Security disability benefits, or certain veterans’ disability payments — does not have to pass a gross income test at all. It only has to clear the net income test, which is gross income minus allowed deductions, capped at the poverty line itself: $1,305 a month for one person under the current standards.
That distinction matters because of the deductions available to these households. A standard deduction, an uncapped medical expense deduction for costs above $35 a month, and an excess shelter deduction can all reduce countable income well below what a household actually brings home. A retiree with meaningful Social Security income and real out-of-pocket medical or rent costs can post net income under $1,305 even though the gross number looks disqualifying at first glance — which is exactly the scenario that leads people to assume, wrongly, that they earn too much.
As a simple illustration built from USDA’s own published figures, not an official example: a single retiree bringing in $1,700 a month in Social Security and a small pension could subtract the standard deduction, then subtract medical costs above the $35 threshold, then subtract shelter costs above half of what remains. For someone with real medical bills and rent, those deductions can easily total several hundred dollars, pulling net income under the $1,305 cutoff even though the gross figure alone would look too high under the ordinary 130 percent test.
The Family Living Arrangement the $2,195 Ceiling Actually Controls
So what is the 165 percent number actually for, if households with elderly or disabled members skip the gross test? USDA uses it to decide a narrower but common question: whether someone 60 or older who cannot buy and cook meals separately because of a permanent disability can be treated as their own one-person SNAP household, apart from a relative or housemate they live with. Under the agency’s rules, that person and their spouse can count as a separate household only if the people they live with do not earn more than the 165 percent ceiling for the size of that other household.
That comes up most often in multigenerational homes: an aging parent living with an adult child, for instance. If the child’s income stays under the ceiling, the parent can apply as a one-person household using the lower net-income standard described above. If the child earns more, the parent’s case is usually folded into the child’s household, where the higher combined income can push the whole household over its own limit and end SNAP eligibility for everyone in it. Caseworkers rely on this same 165 percent line to make that call, which is why the figure shows up in USDA’s income tables even though it is not the number most elderly or disabled applicants living alone will ever be tested against directly.
What Changes on October 1
The update is part of USDA’s routine annual cycle, not a new law or a proposal. The agency — renamed the Food and Nutrition Administration from the Food and Nutrition Service on June 1, 2026 — recalculates SNAP’s income limits, maximum benefit amounts, and deductions every fiscal year based on the Thrifty Food Plan and current poverty guidelines. USDA’s fiscal year 2027 update page, last refreshed August 28, 2026, confirms the new figures take effect October 1 and remain in place through September 30, 2027.
Households do not need to do anything to get the new limit; state SNAP agencies apply the updated standards automatically to new applications and recertifications filed on or after October 1. Anyone unsure whether they clear either test — gross, net, or the 165 percent separate-household standard — can ask their state SNAP office to run the numbers rather than assuming a Social Security check or small pension disqualifies them.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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