Methodology
This page documents exactly how Food Stamp Calc turns your answers into an estimate, so you can check our work or reproduce it by hand.
Food Stamp Calc Editorial Team · published · verified
One engine
A single JavaScript module computes every number on the site: the live calculator, the worked examples and tables on each state page, and our automated tests. There is no second copy of the arithmetic that could drift.
Order of operations
We follow 7 CFR 273.10(e): (1) gross income = earned + unearned; (2) subtract 20% of earned income; (3) subtract the standard deduction for the household size and area; (4) for a household with someone 60+ or disabled, subtract medical costs above $35; (5) subtract dependent care; (6) subtract child support paid; (7) add shelter costs (rent or mortgage plus the utility allowance), subtract half of the income left after steps 1–6, and deduct the excess — capped at $769 ($1,229 in Alaska, $1,036 in Hawaii) unless someone is 60+ or disabled; (8) benefit = maximum allotment − 30% of net income.
Rounding
Each income and deduction is rounded to whole dollars, 50 cents up (7 CFR 273.10(e)(1)(ii)(A)). Thirty percent of net income is rounded up to the next dollar (273.10(e)(2)(ii)(A)(1)); Texas’s published allotment chart confirms this method. States may instead keep cents or round the final allotment down, so an official figure can differ from ours by about a dollar.
Eligibility paths
We test every path that applies and use the most favorable, because broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) cannot make anyone ineligible. The federal path requires gross income at or under 130% of poverty (waived when someone is 60+ or disabled), net income at or under 100%, and assets at or under $3,000 ($4,750 with an elderly or disabled member). The BBCE path uses the state’s gross limit and asset rule from the FNS June 2026 chart and has no net test. If an asset test applies and you leave assets blank, the result says “depends on the asset test” rather than guessing. Eligible one- and two-person households receive at least the $25 minimum; larger households whose formula result is zero receive nothing.
Income limits in dollars
The 100%, 130% and 165% limits are copied from the FNS memo. For 200% we double the 100% standard, matching the charts published by California, Florida and Pennsylvania. For 150%, 160% and 185% we apply the FNS method — 2026 annual guideline × percentage ÷ 12, rounded up — which we confirmed reproduces all 81 FNS table cells. Where a state publishes its own dollar chart (Pennsylvania, California, Florida, Illinois) we use it.
Utility allowances
Utility allowances are set by each state. When a state’s October 2026 figure is published in a document we can read, we use it and cite it. When it is not, we use the state’s FY2026 figure from USDA’s table, label it “last year’s figure” on the receipt, and offer a box to type the amount from your notice. New Jersey has no published value, so the calculator asks for it. Since the 2025 law, a LIHEAP payment confers the heating and cooling allowance only when someone is 60+ or disabled, and internet is never counted.
Date windows
Every rule set has start and end dates. The FY2027 federal figures end September 30, 2027; Maryland’s calendar-year utility allowances end December 31, 2026. After a window ends the receipt marks the figure as needing yours rather than silently reusing it, and our test suite fails 45 days before any window ends without a verified successor, which forces a refresh.
Not modeled
First-month proration, ineligible or disqualified members, student rules, self-employment costs, vehicle valuation, state standard medical deductions (we use actual costs), the elderly separate-household rule, work-rule time limits, and the transitional or senior-specific programs some states run.