How many SNAP recipients are adults aged 18-49 without dependents in 2023?

1. What the official national data actually reports — and what it doesn’t

USDA’s FY2023 publications and charting provide participant counts by broad age groups (children, adults 18–59, older adults) but stop short of reporting a nationwide tally specifically for “adults 18–49 without dependents” or for ABAWDs in that exact age bracket ^{[1] [2]}. The FY2023 Characteristics Report and ERS charting show that adults ages 18–59 made up roughly 42 percent of participants in fiscal 2023, and the USDA report discusses limits faced by some participants age 18–49 who had no disability and no household member under 18 — but it does not publish a single national number for that subgroup in the documents provided here ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Why advocates and agencies focus on the ABAWD cohort

Federal ABAWD rules target “able‑bodied adults without dependents” because policy changes determine time limits and work requirements for those people: when work rules are enforced, ABAWDs generally can receive SNAP more than three months in a 36‑month period only if they meet work or training requirements or qualify for an exemption ^{[3] [5]}. This is why state agencies and advocacy groups monitor and report ABAWD populations closely — those counts indicate who could be affected by reinstated time limits and by changes to eligible age ranges ^{[3] [5]}.

3. The 2023 policy changes that make this subgroup salient

Federal emergency SNAP waivers that had suspended ABAWD time limits during the pandemic ended in 2023. Federal guidance and state materials note that from mid‑2023 states resumed screening and applying ABAWD time limits for adults in the younger age bands (initially 18–49, with later statutory changes and state implementations expanding or phasing in higher ages) ^{[3] [6] [7]}. The reinstatement makes an accurate count of adults without dependents more consequential for estimating how many people might face new limits ^{[3] [6]}.

4. State counts exist, but aggregation is limited in provided sources

Some state agencies published ABAWD tallies — for example, South Carolina reported approximately 29,000 SNAP recipients designated as ABAWDs as of Aug. 15, 2023 ^[4]. Arkansas, Georgia, and Colorado materials describe who is screened and which ages are subject to the rules, but the provided state pages do not supply a comprehensive national aggregation; the USDA FY2023 materials similarly describe categories without delivering a national ABAWD headcount in the supplied excerpts ^{[6] [7] [8] [2]}.

5. What independent summaries and journalists say (and their limits)

News outlets and research centers contextualize the size and composition of SNAP: Pew notes nearly 23 million SNAP recipients were adults in 2023 and 12.4 million were children, based on Census SIPP-derived tabulations, but that source does not isolate “18–49 without dependents” specifically in the excerpts provided here ^[9]. The New York Times and USA Today pieces reiterate that the pandemic suspension ended in 2023 and that adults 18–59 are a large cohort, but they too do not publish a single national ABAWD figure in these excerpts ^{[10] [11]}.

6. Best available path to a precise count and the limitations

To produce a definitive 2023 national count of SNAP recipients ages 18–49 without dependents you would need either (a) USDA to publish an ABAWD‑specific national tabulation for FY2023 (not found in the provided excerpts), or (b) a state‑by‑state summation of ABAWD counts like South Carolina’s ^[4]. The provided USDA/ERS materials and the FY2023 Characteristics report describe the relevant age groupings and policy context but—based on the documents here—do not present the requested precise national number ^{[1] [2]}.

7. Takeaway for readers and policymakers

The reinstatement of ABAWD rules in 2023 means a sizable subset of adult SNAP beneficiaries — those without dependents and within the regulated age bands — became subject again to time limits and work/testing requirements ^{[3] [5]}. However, available sources provided here do not supply the single national 2023 headcount for adults 18–49 without dependents; state reports and USDA age‑bracket summaries can be combined to estimate it, but that aggregation is not present in these excerpts ^{[4] [1] [2]}. If you want, I can draft an approach to estimate that national number by collecting and summing state ABAWD tallies (if those are publicly available) or by querying USDA data tables directly (the SNAP Data Tables page is the logical USDA starting point) ^[12].