Illinois SNAP use falls to lowest in 13 years
New federal work requirements are driving the decline.
Illinois food stamp enrollment fell in July to its lowest level in at least 13 years, a drop driven by new federal work requirements.
About 1.5 million Illinois residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in July, down more than 23% from July 2025 and the lowest monthly total in state data going back to 2013.
Enrollment has declined in each of the past eight months, but the steepest drops came after benefits ended May 1 for residents who did not take steps to meet the new federal eligibility requirements, which apply generally to able-bodied adults without dependents.
Since April, the last month before those rules took hold, the state has shed about 173,000 SNAP recipients, a 10.5% drop in three months.
Illinois is using state tax dollars to temporarily offset some of the benefit losses.
The state’s new Families Receiving Emergency Support for Hunger program (FRESH), provides a one-time $400 payment to eligible Illinoisans whose SNAP benefits were terminated or reduced because they failed to meet the new work requirements. Lawmakers set aside $70 million for the program, it does not restore recipients to SNAP. Payments began Aug. 1.
The number of Illinois households receiving SNAP also has fallen sharply. About 810,800 households in the state received benefits in July, down 23.5% from July 2025.
Even so, about 1-in-9 Illinois residents still receive food assistance.
Chicago alone accounted for nearly a third of the state’s SNAP recipients in July, with about16.5% of the city’s population enrolled.
The state’s highest participation rate was again at Illinois’ southern tip, where nearly 27% of residents in the Alexander-Pulaski area received benefits. Vermilion County was next, at 24%.
The lowest rates were in the collar counties: 4.7% in the Kane-Kendall area and 5.1% in McHenry County.
Falling enrollment, however, does not eliminate Illinois’ growing financial exposure under the federal SNAP changes.
Illinois’ payment error rate (the share of benefits overpaid or underpaid) reached 14.67% in fiscal 2025, up from 11.56% the year before and the fifth-highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Overpayments accounted for more than 90% of that rate.
Those mistakes could soon carry a much larger price for state taxpayers.
Under the 2025 federal law, states with error rates above 10% generally must pay up to 15% of SNAP benefit costs, an estimated $700 million a year for Illinois. Illinois’ error rate is high enough to qualify it for a one-year delay, pushing its first payment to October 2028, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Other SNAP expenses will reach state taxpayers much sooner.
Beginning in the federal fiscal year that starts in October, states must cover 75% of SNAP administrative costs rather than 50%. Illinois lawmakers appropriated more than $100 million for SNAP administration in the current budget, up from $60 million previously.