No state has a statewide waiver from SNAP’s work time limit this fall, and most of the country has no waiver at all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of waivers in effect as of October 1, 2026, shows zero statewide waivers, 12 states with waivers that cover only parts of the state, and 41 states and territories with none.
For SNAP recipients between 18 and 64 who have no child under 14 at home, that means the three-month limit applies in nearly every place the program runs. The rule lets those adults get food benefits for only three months in a three-year period unless they work, volunteer or train for 80 hours a month, or fit an exemption.
Where waivers still exist
USDA’s fiscal 2027 first-quarter status list names 12 states approved for partial waivers: Alaska, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin. A partial waiver covers certain counties or cities, not the whole state.
The list of 41 jurisdictions without a waiver includes the District of Columbia, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with every state not named above. Waivers are generally approved for a period of 12 months, and a state has the authority to end one earlier.
The USDA list names states, not counties. People in a partial-waiver state still need to know whether their own county or city is inside the waived area, because the answer decides whether the 80-hour rule applies to them or not.
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Michigan shows how that works in practice. The state’s work-requirements page lists waived cities that include Bay City, Detroit, Eastpointe, Flint, Jackson and Saginaw, along with a set of counties. Someone in a Michigan county or city outside those areas faces the full rule. Michigan’s page puts the waived part of the state at 15 counties and six cities.
For everyone in the 41 jurisdictions with no waiver, the question about an area waiver has a short answer. The time limit is in force across the whole place, and the only way out is to meet the 80 hours or fit an exemption.
Why waivers are so hard to get now
The test for a waiver is area unemployment. USDA’s time-limit waiver page says an area generally needs an unemployment rate of over 10 percent to qualify, and in Alaska and Hawaii the bar is 1.5 times the national average. Few places clear that line. The agency updated that page on October 5 to post the first-quarter status file, and it publishes a new status list each quarter.
The age range also grew. A USDA implementation memo signed by Ronald Ward, acting associate administrator for SNAP, says adults aged 18 to 64 are now subject to the time limit, effective with the budget law signed on July 4, 2025. Before that, the limit stopped at 54.
The same memo narrows the child exception to children under 14 and removes the exceptions that had been added for homeless people, veterans, and former foster youth aged 24 or younger. With fewer exemptions and fewer waivers, more older adults end up counting hours.
Ages 60 to 64 remain exempt from the general work requirements and from mandatory employment and training under the memo, yet they are still subject to the time limit. That makes the waiver question matter to a 62-year-old as much as to anyone younger.
What a waiver does and does not change
Even where a waiver applies, it covers only the time limit. USDA’s waiver page says a time limit waiver does not waive the general SNAP work requirements. Adults in waived areas can still have to meet the general rules, such as not quitting a job or cutting hours without good cause, unless they are excused.
The 80-hour standard itself is on USDA’s work-requirements page, which counts paid work, unpaid or volunteer work, a work program, a combination, or assigned workfare toward the 80 hours a month. People who do not meet it lose benefits after three months and can get them back by meeting the rule for a 30-day period or becoming exempt.
A status list is also a snapshot. USDA updates the file each quarter, and a state can end a waiver early, so a county that is waived in October may not be in January. Anyone near the edge of a waived area should ask the local SNAP office for the current area list in writing.
Inside a partial-waiver state, two neighboring communities can face different rules, one with the 80-hour test and one without it. The practical lesson is that a waiver cannot be assumed. Whether the time limit reaches a given household depends on the county, the age of the adult, the children at home and any exemption, and each of those has to be confirmed with the state agency that runs the case.
Not sure a county sits inside a SNAP waiver area?
A household that assumes it is in a waived area, or one that is exempt but never says so, can run through three months of benefits before the problem shows up. In 41 jurisdictions, there is no waived area to lean on at all.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer lays out the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, next to 51 state packs, so a household can match its own state’s rules to its situation. Its renewal and reporting calendar tracks the dates that keep benefits from lapsing.
See the SNAP organizer that shows who is exempt from the work-rule time limit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
