South Dakota posted the lowest food-stamp payment error rate in the country for fiscal year 2025, at 2.47%. It was one of only nine states that kept a combined error rate under 6% last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newest accuracy count for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
That threshold carries more weight this year than in years past. A new federal law ties part of a state’s future SNAP costs to its own error rate, and 6% is the line the law uses to decide which states owe something extra.
The nine states that stayed below the new 6% line
USDA’s fiscal 2025 payment error rate report lists nine states under a combined 6%: South Dakota (2.47%), Idaho (3.85%), Wyoming (3.96%), Kentucky (4.70%), Iowa (5.34%), Vermont (5.38%), Utah (5.54%), Wisconsin (5.72%) and Nebraska (5.90%). The U.S. Virgin Islands also came in under the line, at 5.36%, but as a territory it falls outside the count of states, even though SNAP’s own regulations, per the Code of Federal Regulations, group it with the 50 states and Guam under the broader term “State” for administrative purposes.
The step most errors trace back to: A low error rate does not mean a state’s recertification process runs itself, only that fewer packets come back late or incomplete. The renewal and reporting calendar in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer tracks those dates before one turns into a missed deadline.
How the rate is built: overpayments plus underpayments
SNAP’s error rate is not a single number pulled from one kind of mistake. USDA adds a state’s overpayment rate, benefits paid too high, to its underpayment rate, benefits paid too low, to get the combined figure used in every ranking. Broken down that way, the nine states looked like this: South Dakota, 2.05% over and 0.42% under; Idaho, 3.45% over and 0.40% under; Wyoming, 3.55% over and 0.41% under; Kentucky, 4.02% over and 0.67% under; Iowa, 4.63% over and 0.71% under; Utah, 4.64% over and 0.89% under; Vermont, 5.06% over and 0.32% under; Wisconsin, 5.32% over and 0.40% under; and Nebraska, 4.82% over and 1.08% under. None of the nine eliminated errors entirely; each simply kept both kinds of mistakes small.
How far below the national average the nine sit
USDA’s national combined error rate for fiscal 2025 was 10.62%. South Dakota’s 2.47% is less than a quarter of that figure, and even Nebraska, the highest of the nine at 5.90%, stayed only about half the national rate. Part of why the national number runs so much higher is a small group of jurisdictions pulling it up: 19 states and Washington, D.C. posted combined error rates of 10% or higher in the same fiscal year, more than double what any of the nine states kept theirs to. Another 22 states cleared 6% but stayed under 10%, which means the nine named above are the only state programs in the country whose fiscal 2025 rate did not clear the new law’s threshold at all. Guam, whose SNAP program is measured under the same regulatory definition, posted 11.70% in the same fiscal year, more than four times Nebraska’s 5.90%, the highest rate among the nine. USDA’s fiscal 2025 report also put the nationwide toll of every jurisdiction’s errors, the nine states included, at $10.1 billion combined, a total the nine’s own low rates did little to drive up.
What crossing 6 percent will cost, starting in 2027
H.R. 1’s SNAP accountability title sets 6% as the trigger. A state that crosses it owes USDA a share of its own benefit spending, 5%, 10% or 15%, scaled to how far over the line its error rate sits, beginning with fiscal 2028 costs on October 1, 2027, according to USDA’s June 24 announcement of the fiscal 2025 rates. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said USDA’s goal is to “curb waste while serving needy families and protecting taxpayers.” None of the nine states above face that cost share on their current numbers; the other 44 states, the District of Columbia and Guam do.
What the nine avoid, at least for now
Staying under 6% carries its own reward under the new law. Every jurisdiction at or above the threshold must submit a corrective action plan explaining what is driving its errors, and USDA can add further financial penalties through SNAP’s existing quality control process, on top of the cost share itself. None of that paperwork or penalty risk applies to the nine states listed above on their fiscal 2025 numbers, at least until USDA measures their error rates again next year.
The calendar behind nine low error rates
The nine states below 6% still run the same recertification cycle as every other state, just with fewer packets going back late or incomplete. The unfinished task in a SNAP household, on either side of that line, is keeping its own renewal on schedule.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer pairs 51 state packs with a renewal and reporting calendar to keep that packet on schedule.
See the renewal and reporting calendar in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources.
