SNAP Child Impact Dashboard

Child Participation Decline: Children fell from 363,165 in July 2025 to 281,101 in June 2026, a loss of 82,064 or 22.6 percent. Adults fell 88,163 or 19.9 percent. Total participation fell from 805,633 to 635,406, a loss of 170,227 or 21.1 percent. Children were 45.1 percent of the July 2025 caseload and 48.2 percent of the decline. Participation rose modestly from May to June 2026: total recipients increased by 2,677 and children by 1,032. The endpoints and monthly counts are published Office of Family Support figures; differences and percentages are author calculations.

Benefit Levels: Average benefits per participant were $184.57 in July 2025 and $186.32 in June 2026, an increase of about 0.9 percent. Total issuance fell 20.4 percent over the same span. The aggregate pattern indicates that the issuance decline was driven primarily by fewer participants rather than a lower statewide average benefit per person. It does not mean each household's allotment was unchanged.

SNAP Coverage of Poverty: The statewide share of the fixed OFS population benchmark below 125 percent of poverty receiving SNAP fell from 74.6 percent in July 2025 to 58.9 percent in June 2026. The denominator, 1,079,536 residents, is held constant across the series. The chart therefore shows program reach against a fixed benchmark, not an independent monthly poverty estimate.

Redetermination Outcomes: In July 2025, statewide recorded redetermination outcomes were 55.67 percent recertified and 44.33 percent closed. By June 2026, they were 35.54 percent recertified and 64.46 percent closed. These percentages describe the outcomes reported in LDH's monthly “Redeterminations Certified and Rejected” series. A closure at redetermination does not establish that the household would have remained eligible, and the series does not identify a single cause for the change.

Households Reporting Earned Income: SNAP households reporting earned income fell from 116,054 in July 2025 to 82,475 in June 2026, a decline of 33,579 or 28.9 percent. Total SNAP households fell 19.2 percent over the same endpoints. The share of SNAP households reporting earned income fell from 29.24 to 25.72 percent. Average reported earned income among the remaining households rose from $1,585.85 to $1,662.06. These aggregate data do not identify why individual households left SNAP.

Recorded Closure Reasons: Author aggregation of twelve LDH monthly closure reports covering effective dates August 2025 through July 2026 yields 322,048 closures: 242,560 procedural (75.3 percent), 55,412 other eligibility (17.2 percent), 16,017 income based (5.0 percent), 7,963 client request (2.5 percent), and 96 sanctions. The December 2025 and February 2026 reports appear duplicated; excluding the disputed February report gives 294,405 closures at 74.8 percent procedural. Separately, 34,305 closures are labeled only “Other” by the agency. In the latest report, for closures effective July 2026, 7,557 of 28,802 closures (26.2 percent) are coded only “Other,” so the dashboard does not infer a more specific eligibility reason for those records.

District Records: District cases, recipients, and benefit activity come from LDH TINA-BI geocoded SNAP cases by legislative district, benefit month December 2025, report dated February 2, 2026. Figures are total participants, not children. District level child counts are not separately published in this dataset and are not estimated. Legislator names are display labels separate from the December 2025 SNAP observation date; previously blank House seats 37, 60, 69, 97, and 100 were refreshed against Louisiana House pages on September 3, 2026.

What the Payment Error Rate Measures: USDA's SNAP payment error rate combines overpayment and underpayment errors; the components are added rather than netted. It measures payment accuracy in reviewed cases and is not a fraud rate. Improper denials are not part of the payment error rate and are evaluated through separate quality-control measures.

Louisiana's Certified Rates: FY2024 was 6.62 percent, including 5.14 overpayment and 1.48 underpayment. FY2025 was 8.14 percent, including 6.84 overpayment and 1.30 underpayment. National rates were 10.93 percent and 10.62 percent, respectively. USDA did not establish FY2020 or FY2021 state or national rates, so the chart leaves those years blank rather than interpolating values.

Cost-Share Bands: Under H.R. 1, the SNAP benefit cost share is 0 percent below a 6 percent payment error rate, 5 percent from 6 to below 8 percent, 10 percent from 8 to below 10 percent, and 15 percent at 10 percent or higher, beginning in FY2028. A separate administrative provision increases the state administrative share from 50 percent to 75 percent beginning in FY2027.

Fiscal Exposure and Fiscal-Year Definitions: FRAC's reference estimate is $42.3 million in additional administrative exposure plus $184.075 million in benefit cost share, or $226.375 million combined. Its benefit estimate uses a federal FY2025 issuance reference of $1.840754 billion. Separately, LDH reports $1.866896 billion issued in Louisiana state fiscal year 2024–25 and $1.622294 billion in state fiscal year 2025–26. The dashboard therefore labels federal and state fiscal-year figures separately and shows $162.2 million as an illustrative 10 percent benefit share using the Louisiana SFY 2025–26 total, plus $142.1 million using the June 2026 annualized run rate. These are scenarios, not appropriations or guaranteed future expenditures.

What This Dashboard Does Not Claim: Participation fell during a period of substantial federal and state policy and administrative change. The dashboard documents timing, magnitude, administrative closure patterns, and policy incentives. It does not establish that H.R. 1, any single state administrative action, or any specific technology failure caused the full participation decline. Causal attribution would require an explicit research design and counterfactual.