Sample Food Stamp/SNAP Benefit Amounts
for Unemployment Insurance Recipient Households – October 2016
The following chart provides a snapshot of sample SNAP benefits for households where
 all members meet the US citizen or qualified immigrant and other eligibility rules,
 the household’s sole source of income is Unemployment Insurance (UI) and
 the household has no other deductible expenses aside from shelter costs (e.g. no child support paid out,
no dependent care expenses) and does not include a disabled or elder household member.
Sample Monthly SNAP Benefits
Household
size ►
Total UI income
for household▼
$150/week
$200/week
$300/week
$400/week
$500/week
1 adult
Shelter
deduction▼
2 persons
3 persons
4 persons
5 persons
Monthly SNAP Benefits for Household Size ▼
None
46
209
363
504
635
Max amt
194
357
511
649
771
None
16*
144
298
439
570
Max amt
136
299
453
595
725
None
16*
16*
168
309
440
Mas amt
16*
169
323
465
595
None
16*
16*
38
179
310
Max amt
16*
39
193
335
465
None
0
16*
0
49
180
Max amt
0
16*
63
205
335
How does the SNAP agency calculate weekly UI for SNAP eligibility?




Under SNAP federal rules, the weekly UI payment is multiplied by 4.333 (weeks/month).
Unemployment insurance is considered “unearned” income in the calculation of the SNAP benefits. UI does not qualify for the
20% earnings disregard that applies to wages, salaries or self-employment earned income.
Each household then receives the “standard deduction” of $157, $168, etc based on household size.
Households with shelter costs also get a shelter deduction, which is the amount of shelter costs above 50% net income, capped at
$517/mo. Shelter costs include a “standard utility allowance” added to rent or homeownership costs. There is NO cap on the
shelter deduction if the household includes an elder (60 years +) or disabled member.
How to use this chart? The above calculates benefits two ways to show the range benefits:


The first scenario assumes the household has NO shelter costs, or the costs are less than half of their net income.
The second scenario assumes the household qualifies for the maximum shelter deduction of $517/month.
*All SNAP households must meet 200% FPL gross income test (unless elder/disabled). Federal SNAP rules allow a minimum $16
benefit for 1 and 2 person households below 200% FPL.
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Updated October 2016