Households that receive help buying groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have long faced a hard ceiling on savings: build up too much money in the bank, and the benefit disappears. Starting October 1, 2026, that ceiling moves for one specific group. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Administration is raising the countable-resource limit for SNAP households that include a member who is 60 or older or living with a disability, from $4,500 to $4,750. For an older adult stretching Social Security or a small pension, that extra room means a modest cushion in the bank no longer has to be a threat to next month’s grocery benefit.
USDA’s FY2027 COLA Memo Raises the Elderly and Disabled Asset Test to $4,750
The change comes from a memo the Food and Nutrition Administration sent to all state SNAP agencies on August 21, 2026, laying out the fiscal year 2027 cost-of-living adjustments required under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. The memo sets the resource limit at $4,750 for households with at least one member age 60 or older or disabled, effective October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027. The standard resource limit for every other household stays flat at $3,000, a figure that has not moved.
The increase is notable because it did not happen last year. The USDA’s own posted FY2026 figures, which cover the year through September 30, 2026, still list the elderly and disabled asset limit at $4,500 — the same number carried over from the prior year. This is the first increase to that specific limit in two annual adjustment cycles, not a routine restatement of an unchanged rule.
The asset test is a separate lever from SNAP’s better-known benefit amounts. The same August 21 memo also updates the maximum monthly allotments, income limits, and deductions for FY2027, but those figures answer a different question: how much a household can receive. The resource limit answers whether a household can qualify at all before benefits are even calculated, which is why a modest-seeming $250 increase carries outsized weight for people sitting right at the edge of it.
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What Counts Toward the $4,750 — and What USDA Leaves Out
The $4,750 figure applies to “countable resources,” which USDA defines narrowly. Cash on hand, money in checking and savings accounts, and similar liquid assets count toward the limit. A long list of things do not. According to the Food and Nutrition Administration’s eligibility rules, a household’s home and the land underneath it are excluded entirely, regardless of value. So are the resources of anyone in the household already receiving Supplemental Security Income or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and most retirement and pension accounts, though withdrawals from those accounts can sometimes count as income.
Vehicles fall into a separate, more complicated category: a licensed vehicle is generally exempt from the resource count unless its fair market value tops $4,650, and most households get to exclude one vehicle per adult from that equity test entirely. In practice, that means the asset test is mostly a check on cash and bank balances, not on the home, the car, or the retirement account a household already has.
Why an Extra $250 Matters More for a Fixed-Income Household
USDA’s definition of who counts as disabled for this purpose is specific: it includes people receiving Supplemental Security Income, Social Security disability or blindness payments, a disability retirement benefit from a government agency, or certain veterans who are totally disabled or need regular aid and attendance. A household only needs one member who fits that definition, or is 60 or older, for the entire household to qualify for the higher $4,750 limit and the other elderly and disabled deductions.
SNAP already treats households with an elderly or disabled member differently in ways that go beyond the asset test. Under the program’s special rules for elderly and disabled applicants, these households only have to pass the net income test, skipping the gross income screen that applies to everyone else, and they can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses above $35 a month along with shelter costs that exceed half their income, with no cap. Those carve-outs exist because a retiree living on a fixed Social Security check tends to spend a larger share of it on rent, utilities, and medical bills than a working-age household does.
The asset test works alongside those deductions rather than against them. A retiree who keeps a few hundred dollars set aside for a car repair, a co-pay, or a bad month is no longer as close to the edge of disqualification once the ceiling sits at $4,750 instead of $4,500. It is not a large sum, but for someone deciding whether to keep money in a savings account or spend it down to stay eligible, the extra $250 is the difference between some cushion and none.
The Same Threshold Doubles as the Line for Lottery and Gambling Winnings
The FY2027 memo notes that the elderly and disabled resource limit does double duty: it is also the dollar amount that defines “substantial” lottery or gambling winnings under federal SNAP rules. A household member who wins $4,750 or more must report it, and federal law requires the household to be disqualified immediately until it can again show it meets both the income and resource limits. Because that reporting threshold rises in step with the asset test, October 1 moves both numbers together rather than leaving one behind.
State agencies are expected to apply the new figures starting with the October 2026 issuance cycle, according to the same August 21 memo, which directs USDA regional offices to make sure their state SNAP agencies are aware of the change. A household already close to the current $4,500 ceiling does not need to take any action before then — the higher limit applies automatically once the fiscal year turns over — but anyone unsure where they stand can confirm the details with their state SNAP office before recertifying.
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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