SNAP payment error rate exceeds national threshold

Taxpayers from North Carolina will be on the hook for a 5% benefit match of SNAP payment errors, according to the rate release from the USDA.

The state’s payment error rate is 7.36%, higher than the 6% threshold established in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed last year on July 4. A corrective action plan is also to be produced.

The rate is below the national average of 10.62%.

“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”

The rate analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture determines how accurately states determine eligibility and disbursement for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Food and Nutrition Services program in North Carolina is under the oversight of the state Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Devdutta Sangvai is the leader of the Health Department as appointed in January 2025 by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

The USDA says, “States with error rates at or above the 6% threshold will be responsible for covering 5%, 10%, or 15% of their states’ benefits. The higher their PER, the higher the percentage—and in most cases, as soon as October 1, 2027. The FY 2025 PER is the first year that could be used to calculate those percentages.”

At time of publication Friday, Sangvai and the Health Department have not released statements on the USDA report.

North Carolina’s rate is an improvement from 2024 and higher than before the COVID-19 era. The report was not released in those years.

For 2025, the state rate’s 7.36% is the combination of 5.7% overpayment and 1.6% underpayment. For fiscal year 2024, the numbers were 10.21% (8.11% overpayments, 2.1% underpayments).

North Carolina came out of COVID-19 in 2022 with the seventh-worst rate of two territories, the District of Columbia and all 50 states. Its total was 19.07% (17.44% overpayment, 1.63% underpayment). In 2023, the 9.72% was derived from 8.16% overpayment and 1.56% underpayment.

Prior to the pandemic, the rates were 5.25% in 2017 (3.78% overpayment, 1.47% underpayment); 4.97% in 2018 (3.74% overpayment, 1.23% underpayment); and 5.78% in 2019 (4.2% overpayment, 1.59% underpayment).

North Carolina was better than the national average in all those years with exception to 2022. National norm that year was 11.54%.

The national averages over that span have been 6.3% in 2017, 6.8% in 2018, 7.36% in 2019, 11.68% in 2023 and 10.93% in 2024.

Before Sangvai, the appointments of former Gov. Roy Cooper were Dr. Mandy Cohen from 2017-21 and Dr. Kody Kinsley (2022-25).