Mississippi SNAP Benefit Calculator

The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) administers SNAP through its Economic Assistance system, with offices in all 82 counties. Mississippi follows the standard federal eligibility framework more closely than most states — there is no broad 200% expansion here — so knowing the exact income limits and resource rules before you apply makes a real difference. The calculator above runs your household through those rules and returns an estimated monthly benefit in under two minutes.

Benefits load onto a Mississippi EBT card once per month and work like a debit card at grocery stores, supercenters, and participating farmers markets throughout the state. What the card cannot buy: alcohol, tobacco, vitamins, hot prepared foods, and non-food items.

This guide lays out every number behind your estimate — the FY 2026 income tests, the resource limit Mississippi still enforces, the deductions that lower your countable income, and the exact dates your deposits arrive. Roughly 363,000 Mississippians received SNAP in fiscal year 2025, about 12 percent of the state's population, and nearly all of them went through the same steps listed below. Ten minutes here will tell you what your county office will spend a full interview explaining.

Mississippi Income Limits for FY 2026

Most Mississippi households must meet two income tests during the federal year that runs October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. Gross monthly income — everything before taxes — may not exceed 130% of the federal poverty level. Net income, once deductions are applied, must stay at or below 100% of poverty. The numbers below come straight from MDHS's official SNAP income table, so you can quote them to a caseworker without hedging.

Household size	Max gross monthly income (130% FPL)	Max net monthly income (100% FPL)
1 person	$1,696	$1,305
2 people	$2,292	$1,763
3 people	$2,888	$2,221
4 people	$3,483	$2,680
5 people	$4,079	$3,138
6 people	$4,675	$3,596
7 people	$5,271	$4,055
8 people	$5,867	$4,513
Each additional member	+$596	+$459

FY 2026 federal standards, verified against the MDHS income table and the USDA Food and Nutrition Administration COLA memo.

Maximum monthly benefit amounts

Household size	Max monthly benefit
1 person	$298
2 people	$546
3 people	$785
4 people	$994
Each additional member	+$218

A household of eight can receive up to $1,789 in a month, and every member beyond that adds $218 to the award. The calculator's estimate matters more than the ceiling for most families: your actual benefit equals the maximum allotment for your household size minus 30% of your net income, which is why the deductions section below is worth reading twice. Mississippi issues the $24 minimum benefit to the smallest households that qualify with very low net income.

Households with a member who is 60-plus or receives disability benefits follow a different track. They are exempt from the 130% gross income test and qualify on net income alone, and the same group gains the medical expense deduction plus an uncapped shelter deduction. A retired couple living on $1,900 in Social Security with $700 in rent and high prescription costs can clear the net test even when their gross income looks well above the table above.

The Resource Test Mississippi Applies

Mississippi counts resources toward eligibility. Countable assets — cash, checking and savings balances, and certain other property — are capped at $3,000 for most households and $4,500 when someone is 60 or older or disabled. Your home, household goods, most retirement accounts, and typically one vehicle are excluded. Because the state did not adopt the broad categorical eligibility expansion other states use, this resource screen genuinely applies, so gather recent bank statements before you apply rather than after.

In practice, the caseworker totals everything your household could convert to grocery money quickly. Counted: cash on hand, checking and savings balances, stocks or bonds held outside retirement wrappers, a second or third vehicle, and tax refunds or lump sums still sitting in the account on application day. Not counted: the home you live in, most retirement plans such as a 401(k), IRA, or pension fund, personal belongings, burial plots, and the primary vehicle most households rely on for work and errands.

The contrast with neighboring states is sharper than most applicants expect. Louisiana raises its gross income screen to 200% of poverty and waives the asset test for most households, and Arkansas applies its own narrower expansion rules. Mississippi sits with the small group of states that kept the federal resource test untouched, which is why bank paperwork matters more in a Mississippi file than almost anywhere else in the region.

Deductions Mississippi Caseworkers Apply

Deductions convert your gross income into the net figure the second test measures. Mississippi follows the federal set, and every one of these is applied automatically when you report the underlying expense — which is why over-reporting your costs, not under-reporting, is the common applicant mistake:

Notice how the deductions did the heavy lifting: the same $2,400 income with no rent, no childcare, and no utility bills would produce a far smaller award. Our SNAP deduction amounts guide walks through each deduction in federal detail, and the eligibility formula guide shows the full test sequence.

When Benefits Arrive: Deposits and the Mississippi EBT Card

Mississippi spreads its deposits across the month rather than issuing everything on a single day. Benefits become available from the 4th to the 21st of every month, and your exact day comes from the last two digits of your nine-digit case number — the one printed on your EBT card beneath the sixteen-digit card number. The same day applies every month regardless of weekends or holidays, per MDHS's EBT card page, so once you learn your day you can plan grocery trips around it permanently.

Case number ends in	Benefits available
00–04	4th of the month
05–10	5th
11–16	6th
23–28	8th
35–40	10th
41–46	11th
…highest case numbers	through the 21st

Our SNAP payment schedule guide shows how every state's calendar compares if you have case numbers in two states.

Using and protecting the card

Cardholder service runs 24 hours a day at 1-866-512-5087 — call there to set or change your PIN, check your balance, hear recent transactions, or cancel a lost or stolen card immediately. You can also check the balance at any grocery register before checkout, on the connectebt.com website, or through the customer service line. Benefits you do not spend stay on the card and roll into the next month; nothing expires as long as you use the card at least once a year.

Every SNAP dollar goes further at participating Mississippi farmers markets through Double Up Food Bucks Mississippi, a federal GusNIP incentive program that matches SNAP spending on fresh produce dollar for dollar up to the program's daily limit. Ask the market manager whether the stall accepts EBT and doubles — most of the larger markets in Jackson, Hattiesburg, and the Delta do.

How to Apply Through MDHS

Three routes lead to the same application, and none of them costs anything. Pick the one that fits your week:

Bring identification, Social Security numbers for everyone applying, 30 days of pay records, rent or mortgage proof, utility bills, and recent bank statements. Households with an elderly or disabled member should add prescription receipts and medical bills, because those expenses feed the deduction math. After submission comes a phone interview, then a decision within 30 days. Households with under $150 in monthly gross income and minimal resources — and migrant workers in similar straits — must be served within 7 days under expedited rules, so say so clearly if that describes you.

Approval is not the finish line — it is a certification period. Most Mississippi households are approved for six to twelve months at a time and must complete a recertification interview to continue; households where every adult is 60 or older or disabled can be certified for up to 24 months with a mid-point contact, under the state's certification regulations. MDHS also runs an Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) that trims paperwork and interviews for qualifying elderly households, and a combined application path for SSI recipients — ask about both at 800-948-3050 if someone in the home is 60-plus or on SSI.

ABAWD Time Limits in Mississippi

Adults 18 to 64 living without children can receive just three months of benefits in a 36-month period unless they work or train 80 hours monthly, join an approved employment program, or qualify under an exemption (pregnancy, documented medical conditions, and caregiving for a dependent child among them). The top of the age band rose from 54 to 64 under the 2025 federal work-law changes, so Mississippians in their late fifties and early sixties who previously aged out of the rule are now inside it. Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and pregnant participants carry their own exemptions, and the clock stops during months you meet the work requirement.

After the first three counted months, one fresh set of three months is available if you regain eligibility by meeting the work rule again and then lose it — a one-time regaining period per 36-month stretch. Mississippi operates SNAP Employment & Training at no cost, and those hours satisfy the work rule. County caseworkers can enroll you on the spot, which is the fastest way to keep benefits flowing while you search for steady hours.

If your household sits near a border, note that neighboring programs differ: Louisiana widens eligibility to 200% of poverty, while Arkansas adds a net income test and Alabama keeps similar standard tests. Our who qualifies for SNAP guide explains the federal rules every state shares.

Summer Grocery Benefits: Where Mississippi Stands

Families in most states now receive SUN Bucks — the summer grocery program that provides $120 per school-age child when the school year ends. Mississippi is not one of them: the state has opted out of Summer EBT for 2026, so Mississippi families will not receive the $120 summer benefit no matter what their SNAP eligibility looks like. That is a state decision, not an eligibility rule your household can work around, and any website promising Mississippi SUN Bucks cards for this summer is out of date.

The gap does have real substitutes. School districts and community organizations across the state run free summer meal sites where any child can eat at no cost and no enrollment paperwork, typically from late May through early August. The More Meals for Mississippi Kids campaign keeps a statewide map of those sites, and your school district's front office can hand you the closest locations before the year ends. WIC-eligible families with young children also keep their regular benefits through the summer months, which partially offsets the missing SUN Bucks dollars.

SNAP Rules for Non-Citizens (April 2026 Update)

New federal rules tightened SNAP’s non-citizen eligibility starting April 2026, and Mississippi applies them without any state-level softening. The groups that remain eligible include lawful permanent residents who have held their green card status long enough to meet the five-year bar (or who already qualified through work history or disability), Cuban and Haitian entrants, and citizens of nations covered by the Compact of Free Association. Refugees, asylees, parolees, and most humanitarian-status holders who were previously eligible are now outside the program under the new rules.

Two points protect mixed-status families. First, children born in the United States remain fully eligible regardless of their parents' status, and the household can apply for benefits scaled to the eligible members only — reporting income for the whole household but receiving a benefit sized to the citizen children. Second, SNAP use for an eligible child does not count against a parent under public charge screening, because the benefit belongs to the child. Households navigating this situation can ask MDHS at 800-948-3050 which members should be listed on the application before filing anything.

Coming October 1, 2026: The FY 2027 Numbers

The annual cost-of-living adjustment lands every October 1, and the FY 2027 figures are already confirmed. Three numbers change the Mississippi picture directly:

Alongside the benefit amounts, the standard deduction for one- to three-person homes rises to $217 and the shelter cap moves to $769. Gross and net income limits also shift upward with the new poverty guidelines — our COLA adjustment guide explains the annual mechanics, and this page's tables will be updated the day the new standards go live.

Mississippi SNAP FAQ

How long does the whole process take?

Can the interview happen by phone?

What happens if I miss the interview call?

Do SNAP benefits roll over month to month?

How much does a single person get in Mississippi?

What counts toward Mississippi's $3,000 resource limit?

Can non-citizens get SNAP in Mississippi?

When exactly does my money load each month?

Run the Numbers, Then Pick Your Application Route

Your estimate above already applies Mississippi's dual tests — gross, net, and the resource cap. If the result looks right, the online portal or a call to 800-948-3050 gets the real application moving. For deeper reading, our Tennessee SNAP calculator covers a neighboring state's rules, the income limits guide compares every state side by side, and the payment schedule guide shows exactly when each county's deposits arrive each month.