Louisiana’s SNAP Rolls Fell by 186,385 People in a Year, a 23% Drop That Ranks Among the Steepest in the Country

In Louisiana, most people who lost food stamps over the past year were not cut off for failing a work rule or a citizenship check. They were closed out over paperwork, according to the Louisiana Department of Health, which now runs the program.

New federal figures show how deep the cut runs. Louisiana had 613,661 people on SNAP in July 2026, down from 800,046 in July 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s state participation table, with data as of Oct. 9, 2026. That is 186,385 fewer people, a decline of about 23.3%. USDA lists the July 2026 count as initial and subject to revision.

Second only to Arizona

Measured as a share of the caseload, Louisiana’s drop is the second-largest of any state in USDA’s table. Only Arizona, which lost about 51% of its participants, fell faster. Nevada, at about 23.3%, was a hair behind Louisiana, followed by Oklahoma and Florida at roughly 22%.

Every state but Alaska lost SNAP participants over the year. Nationally, enrollment fell from 41,603,048 in July 2025 to 36,087,667 in July 2026, according to the table, which USDA posts with its other SNAP data.

The cut lands on a state already short on food. Feeding America documented a 14% rise in food insecurity in Louisiana from 2022 to 2024, and Second Harvest Food Bank of South Louisiana chief impact officer Lindsay Hendrix said more people are visiting pantries, and more often, Verite News reported in a story republished by WWNO on Oct. 9.

Closed for missing paperwork

SNAP moved from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Louisiana Department of Health on Oct. 1, 2025, under the state’s Project One Door reorganization, according to an LDH announcement that said no eligibility rules changed with the move. Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein said at the time that the department was “excited about the future of the SNAP program.”

LDH’s own data show about 75% of case closures since July 2025 were for procedural reasons, such as not answering a request for more information, the Louisiana Illuminator reported in a story carried by KALB. Of more than 321,000 cumulative closures over the year, only a tiny fraction came from unmet work requirements, and none were attributed to failed citizenship verification.

“When a case closes, it is because the household did not provide the required information or documentation,” LDH press secretary Amy Whitehead told the Illuminator. The department did not explain why so many more households were failing to send documents.

That matters because the July 2025 federal budget law, H.R. 1, added new paperwork for some recipients, including parents of young children, and ended work-rule exemptions for veterans, homeless people and young adults who aged out of foster care, according to the Illuminator. Getting back on can take time.

Aaranika Macon of LaPlace told Verite News she waited about two months for SNAP after reapplying, though federal law generally requires benefits within 30 days of an application. When the money came back, her household had gone from about $500 a month for two people to $298 for her son alone, after she was ruled ineligible as a student. In Baton Rouge, mother Priscilla Harrison’s benefits were cut off in June because of a caseworker error, the Illuminator reported; after they were restored, the amount was sharply lower, and she said no one had explained why.

82,064 fewer children

Children took the largest hit of any group. LDH data showed child recipients fell by 82,064 between July 2025 and June 2026, a 23% decline, according to the Illuminator.

The average Louisiana recipient was getting about $189 a month in benefits, the outlet reported, which puts the loss in grocery terms: each family that falls off loses that money every month until it gets back on.

The decline matches what the site has tracked elsewhere, from Arizona’s steep decline to Florida’s 629,600-person drop.

An 8.14% error rate and a bill starting in 2027

USDA’s fiscal 2025 payment error rate table puts Louisiana at 8.14%, below the national rate of 10.62% but above the 6% line where states begin paying for benefits. Whitehead said Louisiana’s rate is the 16th-lowest in the country and that there is no link between case closures and error rates, according to the Illuminator. The state’s rate was 6.62% in fiscal 2024, Verite News reported.

Under H.R. 1, a rate between 8% and 10% means the state pays 10% of its benefit costs starting in October 2027. Louisiana paid out about $1.6 billion in benefits over the past year, so a 10% share would land near $160 million, and a Food Research & Action Center analysis cited by Verite News put Louisiana’s possible bill at up to $199 million. The state’s share of administrative costs also rose to 75% this October.

Tia Fields, a safety net policy analyst at Invest in Louisiana, told the Illuminator the error rate does not measure people wrongly denied, so there is no penalty for removing eligible families. As of Verite News’ Oct. 7 report, a farm bill the Senate Agriculture Committee sent to the full Senate in September would push the benefit cost shift back a year, while leaving the administrative cost increase in place.

Louisiana households whose cases closed can reapply through LDH, and those who missed a request for documents can ask for their case to be reviewed.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Chrismiceli – CC0/Wikimedia Commons