Over 60? "Income too high" is the wrong test.

If you are 60 or older and someone once told you that your income is too high for food help, that answer may have come from a test the regulation doesn't apply to you. A household with a member who is 60 or older, or disabled, has to pass the net income test. The gross income test isn't applied. That isn't a loophole. It's the rule as written, and everything that follows is about what "net" means for such a household.

You may also have seen a video promising that new income rules for seniors begin on October 1. So this page starts with what the USDA memo actually says, then walks through the four rules, runs one hypothetical household through the arithmetic two ways, and ends with what to say at the office and the three clocks that run once you file.

Did the SNAP rules for seniors change on October 1, 2026?

No new rule. New figures. On August 21, 2026 the Food and Nutrition Administration sent every state agency its memo SNAP – Fiscal Year 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments. In its own words, it "provides the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) maximum allotments, income eligibility standards, and deductions", effective October 1, 2026.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP FY2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments, memo dated August 21, 2026.

Adjustments to figures, then. The rules that exist for a household with a member 60 or older sit in the regulation, 7 CFR 273.9, and the memo doesn't touch them. What it does is replace the numbers those rules are applied to, for every case calculated from October 1.

One consequence sits underneath every number on that list. Nobody re-runs a denied application for you when the figures change. If a decision went against you under the old numbers and the new ones might change it, you apply again.

Why is "your income is too high" often the wrong test after 60?

Because SNAP has two income tests, and the regulation applies only one of them to a household with a member who is 60 or older or disabled. The text is one paragraph: "Households which contain an elderly or disabled member shall meet the net income eligibility standards for SNAP. Households which do not contain an elderly or disabled member shall meet both the net income eligibility standards and the gross income eligibility standards for SNAP."Source: govinfo.gov, 7 CFR 273.9(a).

In SNAP, "elderly" means 60 or older. "Disabled" is a defined list: receiving Social Security disability or blindness payments or SSI, a state disability payment under SSI rules, a government disability retirement for a permanent disability, certain Railroad Retirement annuities, and a veteran rated totally disabled, permanently homebound or in need of regular aid and attendance, along with certain survivors of such a veteran.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled.

The gross limit is 130% of the poverty line, $1,729 a month for one person from October 1. The net limit is 100% of the poverty line, $1,330. A household without a member 60 or older that brings in $1,830 a month fails the gross test before a single deduction is looked at. A household with a member 60 or older at the same $1,830 skips that test entirely, and its case turns on what is left after the deductions the rule allows.Source: USDA FNA memo of August 21, 2026, income eligibility standards, 48 States and D.C.

Those deductions are the other three rules.

What counts as a medical expense, and why does the Medicare premium matter?

The regulation deducts "that portion of medical expenses in excess of $35 per month, excluding special diets, incurred by any household member who is elderly or disabled". Then it lists what counts: medical and dental care; hospital, outpatient and nursing care; prescription drugs and approved over-the-counter medication including insulin; health and hospitalization insurance premiums; Medicare premiums; dentures, hearing aids and prosthetics; prescribed eyeglasses; reasonable transportation and lodging to obtain treatment; and the cost of an attendant, homemaker or home health aide.Source: govinfo.gov, 7 CFR 273.9(d)(3).

Medicare premiums are on that list by name, and that is why one letter matters. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, and for most people it comes out of the Social Security payment before the check arrives.Source: CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles. That single line clears the $35 floor on its own: $202.90 less $35 is $167.90 of deduction before a prescription, a dental bill or a drug-plan premium is added. If you have ever wondered where else those premiums count, this is one of the places.

The rule has a condition. The FNA page says plainly that "proof of medical expenses and insurance payments is required". An expense nobody reported and nobody verified isn't in the calculation. The application doesn't go looking for it. That is the whole difference between the two files you will see below.

Is there a limit on the shelter deduction for a household with a member over 60?

No. The excess shelter deduction covers shelter costs above half of the household's income after the other deductions: rent or mortgage and interest, taxes on the home, heating and cooking fuel, electricity, water, and the basic fee for one telephone. For every other household that deduction is capped, at $744 through September 30 and $769 from October 1 in the 48 States and D.C. For a household with an elderly or disabled member, "all shelter costs over half of the household's income may be deducted".Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled; 7 CFR 273.9(d)(6)(ii).

At a modest rent the cap wouldn't have bitten anyway, and the example below is honest about that. The rule matters most at the rents where it would.

How much can a senior have in savings and still get SNAP?

The countable resource limit for a household with at least one member who is 60 or older or disabled is $4,500 today and $4,750 from October 1, 2026. The memo says the general limit "will remain unchanged" at $3,000.Source: USDA FNA memo of August 21, 2026, resource limits table.

What isn't counted is the longer list. A home and lot. Most retirement and pension plans, although withdrawals from them may count as income or resources depending on how often they occur. The resources of anyone in the household who receives SSI or TANF. Vehicles are counted, or not, according to state rules. And most states use broad-based categorical eligibility, under which a household "may be able to have more resources than the above limits and still be eligible".Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled.

How is the benefit calculated? One household, two answers

The formula is short. SNAP households are expected to spend about 30 percent of their own resources on food, so the benefit is the maximum allotment for the household size minus 30 percent of net monthly income.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled, "How much could I receive?"

Dorothy is a worked example, not a person. She is 73, lives alone in one of the 48 States, and every input below is either an October 2026 figure from the memo or a stated assumption. Social Security $1,620 and a small pension $210: $1,830 a month. Rent $1,100 and utilities $190: $1,290 of shelter. Part B premium $202.90, a drug-plan premium of $110, prescriptions of $52 and dental of $40: $404.90 a month of medical costs.

Same deposits, same rent, same age. The receipts are the difference between $25 and $133, and the first receipt is the Social Security benefit letter with the Medicare premium line on it. For the record, $668.45 of excess shelter is under the $769 cap anyway; the no-cap rule didn't change Dorothy's number, and at a higher rent it would have.

The younger neighbor with the same $1,830 and the same rent doesn't get this far. The gross limit of $1,729 ends the case before the deductions start.

What moved the other way for people 55 to 64?

One rule in the 2025 law moved a line in the opposite direction, and it lands on people just under 60. Before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the time limit for an able-bodied adult without dependents applied at ages 18 to 54. The FNA's implementation memo says the law "increases the age of those subject to the time limit to age 64", effective on enactment, July 4, 2025. Under that time limit, SNAP for more than three months in 36 requires working or participating in a qualifying program at least 80 hours a month, unless another exception applies.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Provisions of the OBBB – ABAWD Exceptions – Implementation Memorandum, October 3, 2025.

The same memo is explicit about what didn't move: "Individuals age 60 or older continue to be defined as 'elderly' for SNAP purposes", they "remain exempt from the general work requirements", and states are prohibited from requiring people 60 through 64 to take part in mandatory employment and training. A second provision of the same law now reserves the energy-assistance shortcut to the standard utility allowance for households with an elderly or disabled member.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Provisions of the OBBB – Information Memorandum, September 4, 2025, section 10103.

What should you say at the office, and what are the clocks?

You apply in the state where you live, and a member of your household contacts the state agency directly. You can name someone in writing as an authorized representative to apply and be interviewed on your behalf. The office processes the application and sends a notice of its decision within 30 days in most cases, and if you're found eligible, benefits are based on the date you submitted the application.Source: USDA FNA, SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled, "How do I apply?"

What to say is one sentence, out loud, at the interview: someone in this household is 60 or older, and here are the medical costs and the shelter costs, with proof. The elderly rules are applied when the age or disability is on the file. Nothing requires anyone to walk you through them, which is not the same as anyone hiding them.

Do most eligible seniors actually apply?

Not most. USDA's own participation study found that SNAP served 88 percent of all eligible people in fiscal year 2022, and that people 60 and over participated at lower rates than other eligible individuals: 55 percent overall, 71 percent among those living alone and 32 percent among those living with others.Source: USDA FNS, Trends in USDA SNAP Participation Rates: FY2020 and FY2022, research summary, October 2024.

Nobody in that study was asked why. But a person who was once measured against the gross limit and told no has a reason not to ask twice, and the arithmetic above is what a second look can produce.

The honest verdict

"New income rules for seniors begin October 1" is true about the numbers and false about the rules. The four rules for a household with a member 60 or older or disabled have been in 7 CFR 273.9 all along: no gross test, medical costs over $35 off income with Medicare premiums on the list, no shelter cap, and a higher resource limit with the home outside it. What October 1 changes is every figure those rules are applied to, and it changes them for anyone who files, not for anyone who was denied and didn't.

If the raise on the Social Security side is what you're watching, the 2027 COLA arithmetic runs on a different rule and a different calendar, and it lands in the same bank account.

Check the rule. Not the slogan.

What to check this week

• Find the letter from Social Security that shows your monthly benefit and the Medicare premium deducted from it. That is the first receipt.
• Put every medical cost of the household member who is 60 or older or disabled in one envelope: premiums, prescriptions, dental, hearing, glasses, transport to appointments. Only the amount over $35 a month counts, and only what is verified counts at all.
• Add up shelter: rent or mortgage and interest, property tax, heating and cooking fuel, electricity, water, one phone line.
• If a household with a member 60 or older was told "income too high", ask which test that was. The gross test isn't applied to you.
• Apply in your state, or name an authorized representative in writing. The state directory is at fna.usda.gov/snap/state-directory, and the USDA National Hunger Hotline is 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479).
• Don't wait for October 1 if you're eligible now. Benefits run from the application date. If your case needs the October figures, ask the office when to file.

Educational only

This is general information, and it isn't legal, tax or financial advice. Dorothy is a worked example, not a person. Every figure above is for the 48 States and D.C. from October 1, 2026, and Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands have their own tables. State categorical-eligibility rules can raise the income and resource limits, and only your state SNAP agency can apply any of this to your case. Confirm anything that matters at fna.usda.gov or with your state SNAP office.

Sources

• USDA FNA: SNAP Fiscal Year 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (memo of August 21, 2026; effective October 1, 2026: income limits, allotments, minimum benefit, deductions, resource limits)
• USDA FNA: SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled (net test only, the definition of elderly and disabled, the $35 medical rule, no shelter cap, resources, how to apply, 30 days, expedited benefits, fair hearing, the FY2026 figures)
• govinfo.gov: 7 CFR 273.9, Income and deductions (273.9(a) income tests; 273.9(d)(3) allowable medical costs; 273.9(d)(6)(ii) shelter cap)
• USDA FNA: SNAP Provisions of the OBBB – ABAWD Exceptions – Implementation Memorandum (October 3, 2025; time limit to age 64; 60+ remain elderly and exempt)
• USDA FNA: SNAP Provisions of the OBBB – Information Memorandum (September 4, 2025; section 10103, energy assistance and the utility allowance)
• USDA FNS: Trends in USDA SNAP Participation Rates: FY2020 and FY2022 (88 percent overall; 55 percent of eligible people 60 and over)
• CMS: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles ($202.90)
• USDA FNA: SNAP State Directory of Resources (where to apply)