The number of people receiving (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) SNAP benefits dropped under 40 million for the first time since 2020 in December, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Wednesday, citing a 3.3 million drop from January to December 2025.
“Half a million people we have found in the last year that are taking benefits more than once. 200,000 dead people or people using dead people’s social security numbers. Of course we made a huge deal to move all illegal aliens off of SNAP last year,” said Rollins on Fox Business
“Since the president was sworn in, we’ve moved 3.3 million off of food stamps,” she added.
Rollins cited the Trump Administration’s efforts to target fraud as a contributing factor to the dropping number of welfare recipients.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there were 42,828,452 individuals on SNAP when President Donald Trump took office in January 2025. In December 2025, the numbers had dropped to 39,513,033, a drop of 3,315,419.
While the number of recipients dropped, data also showed that the average monthly benefits per person rose slightly from $185.91 in January 2025 to $191.70.
Data also showed that the annual cost of benefits rose by more than $2 billion from fiscal year 2024 to FY 2025.
