A food stamp recipient who is able to work and has no dependents can collect benefits for only three months in any 36-month stretch unless the person logs 80 hours a month of work or work activity. Congress widened the rule in 2025, and it now reaches adults from 18 through 64. USDA’s work-requirements page still prints the older age band of 18 to 54, along with a list of seven ways to be excused.
The rule is known as the ABAWD time limit, short for able-bodied adults without dependents. It does not cover every recipient in that age range. It applies to people who can work, who have no young child in the SNAP household, and who do not fit one of the exceptions listed below.
How the 80-hour clock counts
USDA’s SNAP work-requirements page says the 80 hours a month can come from work, from a work program, or from a mix of the two. If the hours are not met, benefits are limited to three months in any three-year period. A three-year period is 36 months, so the count looks at any 36-month stretch, not a calendar year.
A month that falls short of 80 hours uses up one of the three. When the third short month is on the books inside that stretch, the benefits end. That is why the exemptions matter more than the hours for many recipients: a person who fits one is not on the clock at all.
Anyone on food stamps between 18 and 64 with no minor children at home faces the same question: is this household one of the people who must prove 80 hours, or is it excused? A recipient who cannot tell should ask the state SNAP office which category the case falls under before a third short month arrives.
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Ages 18 to 64, not 18 to 54
The top of the age range used to be 54. USDA’s implementation memo, dated October 3, 2025, says that “individuals aged 18 to 64 are now subject to the time limit, unless they meet another exception.” The memo says the changes took effect on enactment, July 4, 2025, and that state agencies apply the new criteria to every initial application and recertification.
The seven ways out on USDA’s page
USDA’s page lists seven exemptions from the ABAWD time limit:
- A physical or mental limitation that keeps the person from working
- Pregnancy
- Someone under 18 in the SNAP household
- Being excused from the general work requirements
- Being a veteran
- Experiencing homelessness
- Being 24 or younger and in foster care on the 18th birthday
The fourth item points to a second, separate set of rules. The general SNAP work requirements cover ages 16 to 59 and excuse people who already work 30 hours a week, who meet work rules for TANF or unemployment compensation, who care for a child under six or an incapacitated person, who cannot work because of a physical or mental limitation, who are in regular alcohol or drug treatment, or who study at least half-time in school or training.
Three of the seven were ended by the 2025 law
Congress’s 2025 law ended the exceptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and former foster youth. USDA’s October 2025 memo describes them as temporary exceptions created by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and says people in those groups are now subject to the time limit unless another exception applies. The work-requirements page, last updated July 16, 2026, still lists all three.
Two other changes sit in the same memo. The household exception used to cover a child under 18 and now covers only a child under 14, so an adult whose children are 14 to 17 is subject to the time limit. A new exception covers American Indians, Urban Indians and California Indians as the Indian Health Care Improvement Act defines them.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services describes the same change in its October benefit announcement. It says the expanded rules apply to people 18 to 64 who have no dependent child under 14 and are considered able to work, and that veterans and former foster youth ages 18 to 24 are no longer automatically exempt.
Which list a recipient should match against
USDA’s work-requirements page says the department is still providing guidance on how the 2025 law changes the ABAWD rules, including the exception and waiver criteria, and that the page will be updated when that guidance is out. Until then, the seven-item list, the age band of 54 and the under-18 household rule sit on the federal page while the memo carries the current rules.
For a recipient close to a third short month, the memo’s version is the one to match against the case: ages 18 through 64, no child under 14, and the exceptions that remain. Whether a given household is excused still comes down to what is on file at the state SNAP office that runs the case.
Counting down to the third short month?
A third month under 80 hours with no exception on file is the point where food stamps stop. For a single recipient that means giving up a benefit that can run as high as $306 a month under the fiscal year 2027 table.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer lays out the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, so a recipient can match a case against the exceptions before the count runs out. It was written for the exact question of who is excused and who is not.
Inside are 51 state packs, one for every state, and a renewal and reporting calendar that puts the dates in one place.
Get the SNAP work-rule time limit and exemptions guide, with your state’s pack →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
