Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Fact check: Which states have the highest rates of SNAP benefits abuse?
Executive Summary
New York, California and Maryland appear prominently in reporting as the states with the largest absolute counts and dollar totals of reported SNAP benefit abuse between 2023 and early 2025, while several Plains and Mountain states report the fewest claims; count-based measures and error-rate measures produce different rankings and policy implications. Recent reporting also highlights that states vary in administrative error rates — with Alaska and several large-population states showing high error/error-like rates — and that federal policy to tie funding to a 6% error threshold will reshuffle incentives beginning in 2028 [1] [2].
1. Big Numbers: Which States Lead in Reported SNAP Fraud Claims?
Reporting from mid-2025 identifies New York as having the largest number of reported SNAP fraud claims, with about 151,000 claims and over $80 million in alleged losses between 2023 and March 2025, followed by California (nearly 86,000 claims, ~$38 million) and Maryland (~63,800 claims, ~$24 million). Those figures are presented as absolute counts and dollar totals and come from a mapping analysis published June 23, 2025; they reflect reported claims, not adjudicated convictions or final determinations, and thus measure complaint volume rather than legal culpability [1]. The same coverage notes that sparsely populated states like Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota report far fewer claims by count.
2. Error Rates Tell a Different Story About Program Risk
A separate line of analysis focuses on error rates — the share of benefits misallocated due to administrative errors or improper payments — finding much higher proportional problems in some states. As of October 20, 2025, Alaska was identified with an error rate near 25%, and states including Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Oregon were named as having relatively high error rates compared with the national target [2]. These error-rate figures reflect a distinct metric from raw claim counts: small states can show high error rates despite low total dollars, while large states can have large dollar losses but lower proportional error rates.
3. Policy Stakes: Funding at Risk Under the 6% Error Threshold
Federal policy slated for 2028 will make error rates consequential: states with error rates above 6% risk losing federal SNAP administrative funding. Reporting in October 2025 signals that only eight states — Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — met that 6% threshold at the time of analysis, while many states face a substantial shortfall to meet the target [2]. This creates a policy incentive for states to prioritize administrative controls, accuracy reviews, and fraud-prevention measures; conversely, the threshold may push some states to tighten eligibility verification, potentially affecting access for eligible households.
4. Data-Sharing and Civil Liberties Concerns Complicate the Picture
Beyond counts and rates, reporting from mid-October 2025 documents that at least 27 states shared sensitive SNAP recipient data with the USDA, raising concerns about potential uses of recipient information, including immigration-enforcement implications. The disclosure of data-sharing agreements and the content of shared data complicates assessment of abuse because surveillance and enforcement strategies vary, changing detection rates and reported totals across states [3]. States that share more data or run more aggressive matching programs may detect more alleged abuse, inflating claim counts relative to jurisdictions with looser data integration.
5. Enforcement Focus Has Shifted to Technology and Card Theft Trends
Private-sector and federal analyses through mid-2025 highlight card cloning, online scams, and EBT vulnerabilities as growing modes of SNAP benefit theft, with vendors and scammers exploiting electronic transactions. Technology upgrades like EMV chip deployment and online transaction controls are promoted as solutions, and service providers emphasize prevention and remediation rather than state-by-state blame [4] [5]. Local reporting of scams in places such as Ocean County underscores that county-level or retailer-targeted incidents can spike reported losses even where statewide metrics remain moderate [6].
6. Reconciling Different Measures: Why “worst” Depends on the Question
Comparing sources shows that the label of “highest rates of abuse” depends on whether one uses absolute claim counts, dollar losses, or proportional error rates. New York ranks highest by raw claims and dollars in June 2025 reporting, while Alaska and several other states top the list by proportional error rate as of October 2025. Additionally, detection intensity, data sharing, and reporting practices vary by state, meaning apparent rankings reflect both program performance and differences in monitoring, not a single, definitive measure of wrongdoing [1] [2].
7. What Is Missing and What to Watch Next
Available materials omit standardized, adjudicated national tallies that reconcile claims with confirmed fraud findings and do not provide uniform timelines for the metrics compared; there is no single authoritative public dataset in these reports that equates claim counts with proven improper payments across states. For a fuller assessment, look for upcoming USDA/FNS releases that reconcile administrative error audits with criminal or civil enforcement outcomes, plus audits of state data-sharing practices and post-2028 funding impacts as the 6% threshold is enforced [5] [2].