SNAP Work Requirements in North Carolina

Check if the time limit applies to you Count your months

When the new rules started in North Carolina

NCDHHS says the expanded rules for ages 18 through 64 started December 1, 2025. Applicants are screened when they apply. Current recipients are screened at their next recertification, and no month can be counted until then.

Waived areas in North Carolina

No part of North Carolina is waived.

That means the time limit can apply anywhere in the state to adults who are not exempt and do not meet the 80-hour rule.

Your 36-month period

North Carolina uses one statewide period: January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027. The next one starts January 1, 2028.

You can get Food and Nutrition Services for only 3 countable months in that period unless you meet the 80-hour rule or are exempt. The time limit calculator helps you count.

How to meet and report the 80 hours

Job and training program: More Than A Job NC

More Than A Job NC offers free training, GED and vocational classes, and work programs whose hours count. Contact 919-707-5617 or mtaj-nc@dhhs.nc.gov. Tell your county DSS by the 10th of the next month if your hours drop below 80. Gig workers can use app work history or a personal log with a signed monthly statement. Health limits can be documented on Form DSS-8209.

Across all states, paid work, work for goods or services, volunteering, workfare and approved training count, and you can combine them. See what counts as work.

More North Carolina details

• Job search alone does not count. Inside a work program it can make up to 25% of your hours.
• NCDHHS says a person without housing may still be found "obviously unfit for employment."
• A child under 14 in your household exempts you even if you are not the parent.

Contact

• Agency: NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS); run by county DSS offices
• Online account: ePASS
• Phone: 1-800-662-7030 (NCDHHS Customer Service Center)

Federal rules that apply in North Carolina

• Covered: adults 18 through 64 who can work, with no child under 14 in their SNAP household.
• Exempt: pregnancy; a health condition that keeps you from working; American Indian, Alaska Native, Urban Indian or California Indian; or being excused from the general work rules (caring for a child under 6 or a disabled person, unemployment benefits, 30 hours a week or $217.50 a week, half-time school, drug or alcohol treatment, TANF work rules). See all exemptions.
• Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and former foster youth are no longer automatically exempt.
• If you lose SNAP, you can get it back by doing 80 hours in 30 days or becoming exempt. You can also ask for a fair hearing. See how to get SNAP back.