Hungry and Ineligible
The State Policy Choice Leaving Millions Without Food
In 2023, roughly 47 million Americans lived in food-insecure households. About 20 million of them were already above their state’s income limit for SNAP. That gap is not an accident. It is the direct result of policy decisions made in state legislatures.
The Program Most People Think Works Differently Than It Does
Most people assume SNAP covers anyone who is genuinely struggling to afford food. That assumption is wrong.
SNAP eligibility is governed by gross income limits set as a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL). The federal floor is 130% of FPL. For a family of four in 2023, that means a gross income cutoff of roughly $39,000 per year. States can expand that threshold up to 200% FPL (about $60,000 for a family of four) through a mechanism called broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have expanded to 200% FPL. Three states sit at intermediate thresholds. Sixteen states remain at the federal floor of 130%. That threshold difference produces vastly different outcomes for food-insecure families living in otherwise comparable circumstances.
The Gap by the Numbers
Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap data, which covers all 3,143 U.S. counties, allows us to estimate how many food-insecure people fall above their state’s SNAP income limit.
In states using the 130% FPL threshold, 55% of all food-insecure residents are above the SNAP income limit. In states that have expanded to 200% FPL, that figure drops to 38%.
That 17-point gap represents hundreds of thousands of people per state who are hungry, documented as hungry, and still categorically ineligible for the primary federal food assistance program.
The states with the largest coverage gaps are concentrated among those that have refused to expand their eligibility thresholds:
In Utah, roughly 274,000 of the state’s 445,000 food-insecure residents are estimated to fall above the SNAP income cutoff. In Ohio, the number exceeds 985,000. In Georgia, it is over 863,000. In Indiana, over 552,000. In Tennessee, over 564,000.
These are not marginal cases. In every one of these states, a majority of the food-insecure population is being told, in effect, that they earn too much to qualify for help.
Who These People Are
The framing of SNAP eligibility debates often centers on dependency and work incentives. The data tells a more complicated story.
A household earning $42,000 per year in a state with a 130% threshold is ineligible for SNAP. That same household would qualify in a state that has expanded to 200% FPL. The food insecurity is the same. The need is the same. The outcome is different because of a legislative decision made in that state’s capitol.
Many of the families above the 130% threshold are working. Wages have not kept pace with food costs in most of the country, and even moderate incomes can leave families unable to consistently afford adequate nutrition. Feeding America’s county-level data includes a cost-per-meal variable that allows for regional food cost comparisons. Across the 130% FPL states, the average cost per meal in 2023 was $3.32. That sounds really low. For a family of four eating three meals per day, it translates to roughly $1,200 per month in food costs alone, before rent, utilities, transportation, or childcare.
The Policy Lever Is Visible and Within Reach
BBCE is a well-established mechanism. The USDA has permitted it since 2000. As of 2023, the majority of states use it. The remaining 16 states at 130% FPL are outliers, and the gap they create is measurable.
Expanding to 200% FPL would not eliminate food insecurity. Even states at the expanded threshold have 38% of their food-insecure population above the cutoff. But the data show a consistent, meaningful reduction in the coverage gap when states choose to expand. The 17-point difference between threshold groups is not noise. It reflects a real reduction in the number of hungry people who can access help.
The argument against expansion typically centers on cost and moral hazard. The cost argument has some basis. Expanded eligibility means more people qualify, which increases state administrative costs and federal benefit outlays. But the moral hazard argument is harder to sustain. The 20 million Americans estimated to be above their state’s SNAP threshold are not choosing food insecurity as a lifestyle. They are earning wages that fall between the old poverty line and the new cost of living.
The Bottom Line
Forty-seven million Americans experienced food insecurity in 2023. That number is the starting point. What happens next depends heavily on where those 47 million people live.
In 16 states, a majority of them are ineligible for SNAP. That ineligibility is not a function of their circumstances. It is a function of their zip code and the political choices their state legislature has made about who deserves access to the federal safety net.
The data do not show a complex or ambiguous relationship here. States with more permissive thresholds have smaller coverage gaps. States with restrictive thresholds leave more than half their food-insecure population without access to the primary tool designed to address that insecurity.
That is a policy failure. It is measurable. And it is entirely reversible.
Data: Feeding America, Map the Meal Gap 2025, county-level estimates for 2023. All food insecurity estimates are modeled. State SNAP thresholds reflect gross income limits as a percentage of the federal poverty level for the applicable year. Estimates of the share of food-insecure individuals above SNAP thresholds are provided directly by Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap dataset. Population estimates for food-insecure individuals above the SNAP threshold are derived by applying the reported percentage to total food-insecure population counts at the county level, aggregated to the state.
Citation: Ribar, D.C., Harris, V., Dewey, A., Dawes, S., and Engelhard, E. (2025). Map the Meal Gap: An Analysis of Local Food Insecurity and Food Costs in the United States in 2023. Feeding America National Organization.