SNAP Work Requirements in Texas

Check if the time limit applies to you Count your months

When the new rules started in Texas

HHSC applies the new rules to applications and renewals filed on or after November 1, 2025, and to changes processed after that date. So the change reaches each household as its case comes up.

Waived areas in Texas

No area of Texas has a federal waiver. But Texas exempts adults who live in a county with no SNAP E&T program ("non-E&T county").

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

Texas sets a 36-month period for each person, starting the first month you do not meet the work rule. The 3 months do not have to be in a row.

You can get SNAP 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: SNAP Employment and Training (Texas Workforce Commission)

Meet the rule with 80 hours a month of paid, unpaid, volunteer or in-kind work, 80 hours of SNAP E&T or another work program, a mix, or TWC workfare. HHSC's pages point to 2-1-1 for help.

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 Texas details

• Adults 60 to 64 are now subject to the time limit but stay exempt from E&T work requirements.
• The Indian, Urban Indian, California Indian or Alaska Native exemption is self-declared.
• Staff must explain the work rules out loud at certification and recertification.

Contact

• Agency: Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC)
• Online account: Your Texas Benefits
• Phone: we could not verify a statewide SNAP number on an official page. Use the agency link above or the USDA state directory to find your local office.

Federal rules that apply in Texas

• 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.