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SNAP Screener

Ben Molin • October 17th 2025

Is SNAP Screener Accurate? Testing the Calculator Against the SNAP Quality Control Data

Background

The government releases a dataset of SNAP Quality Control Data, anonymized but real SNAP household cases including income, expenses, and actual benefit amounts. It's important that our SNAP calculator is as accurate as possible, so we tested our calculations against 37,000 real SNAP cases to see if we can get the same results.

Results

Please note that we did not test against all households in the database, due to missing data or other limitations (see more below), and we corrected some inaccurate 2023 values in our calculator (like utility allowances and standard medical deduction amounts) based on what we learned from this analysis. This validation process helped us improve our historic data, which is the best starting point for continued accuracy on present-day calculations, and shows that it is possible to build an extremely accurate SNAP calculator given accurate data.
For over 98% of households in the selected sample our calculator estimates within $2 of the true benefit amount. Meaning, using real submitted data from a household of four in Connecticut who received a benefit of $249 per month, we calculated an expected benefit in the range of $247-$251.

36,507 of 37,009 estimates within $2 of actual benefit amount: 98.64% accuracy.

36,999 of 37,009 estimates within $9 of actual benefit amount: 99.97% accuracy.

Due to rounding, some of the benefit calculations were $1 off the true amount. For example, we estimate $559 when in reality the household received $558.

Does this mean SNAP Screener is 100% Accurate?

The only way to know 100% if you're eligible for SNAP is to apply. However, as the goal of this website is to give you as accurate as possible of an estimate, this was another validation used to ensure our calculations are correct.

This dataset only has households receiving SNAP, and our calculator also tells you if you're eligible at all. However, "yes or no" eligibility is simpler than full benefit amount calculations.

The dataset tested on is 2023 data, which is the most-recent data available at the time of writing. Every year, the SNAP numbers change for every state, so while the website is consistently updated there is always changing SNAP eligibility information. So, even if a calculator is 100% accurate for 2023, by 2024 it will require updates to remain accurate. This is just another test to check for accuracy in our calculations.

Additionally, due to some limitations in the dataset (where the data fields did not match up easily to SNAP Screener fields), we only tested on 85% of available rows (read more below).

Why is SNAP Screener Estimating a Different Amount Than I Currently Receive?

If this is the case, there likely is a difference between what you are entering into the calculator and what the state's SNAP agency has on file about your household's income and expenses. For example, the state's SNAP agency might be calculating your income differently than it is being entered, or may not have some of your expenses listed. If you'd like to investigate further, you can contact your SNAP caseworker to ask exactly what income and expenses they have for your household.

The closer you can enter numbers that exactly match what the SNAP agency has for your household, the more accurate the estimate will be. Even checking one additional utility box can make a huge ($50+) difference in benefits.

Methodology of the Quality Control "QC" Data Testing

Analysis Process:
  1. Data source, 2023 SNAP Quality Control Data csv and documentation.
  2. The downloaded dataset has 43,776 rows.
  3. Removed Alaska or New York rows due to the region field being removed in the public dataset, which determines utility allowances (limits to 42,713 rows)
  4. Removed Maryland or Indiana rows due to utility allowances changes mid-SNAP calendar year (adds additional complexity) (limits to 41,053 rows)
  5. Removed rows that got a utility allowance that was not the heating or telephone allowance. The documentation was more difficult to understand for these households (limits to 39,552 rows)
  6. Removed rows with blank SUA1 and SUA2 values (limits to 39,040 rows)
  7. Removed rows with utility proration (limits to 38,989 rows)
  8. Removed rows with North Carolina or Arizona as their utility allowances change with household size, and sometimes the allowed allowance was for a different size than the listed household (limits to 37,009 rows).
  9. Downloaded the October 2022 SNAP Screener compiled state options.
  10. Set calculator to skip eligibility tests and calculate benefits for all cases.
  11. Converted each column from the dataset into the associated field on SNAP Screener, then programmatically uploaded all rows to the screener.
  12. In a few states, had to correct utility allowances or standard medical deduction amounts which were slightly off.
Not removing North Carolina or Arizona rows had the within $2 accuracy at 38,459/38,989=98.64% and within $9 accuracy at 38,952/38,989=99.90%.
Findings from Analysis:
  1. The ten rows that were not within $9 did not have clear explanations for the difference in calculated benefit. The median result was off by $20. For eight of the rows, the utility amount calculation was unclear. One household appears they should have claimed the homeless shelter allowance but instead got the excess shelter allowance. The final household they got more than the maximum possible benefit for their household size.
Variable Frequency:
Variable Frequency
Job or self-employment income 27.42%
Non-job (other) income 61.41%
Dependent care expenses 1.91%
Court-ordered child support payments 1.37%
Medical expenses 5.28%
Heating and cooling allowance 60.39%
Homeless shelter deduction 0.32%