The monthly income limit for SNAP in West Virginia is 200% of the federal poverty level for your household’s gross income, and 100% of the federal poverty level for your net income after deductions. For the federal fiscal year running October 2025 through September 2026, that works out to a gross cap of $2,608 a month for a single person and $5,358 for a household of four. If someone in the home is age 60 or older or has a qualifying disability, only the net income test applies.1Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
West Virginia sits above the standard federal 130% gross threshold because it uses a policy called broad-based categorical eligibility, which raises the ceiling to 200%.2Food and Nutrition Service. Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE) One result of that same policy: most households do not face an asset test at all.
Gross and Net Limits by Household Size
Gross income is everything the household brings in before taxes or deductions. Net income is what’s left after SNAP’s allowable deductions are applied. Both numbers rise with household size.
- 1 person: $2,608 gross / $1,305 net
- 2 people: $3,525 gross / $1,763 net
- 3 people: $4,442 gross / $2,221 net
- 4 people: $5,358 gross / $2,680 net
- 5 people: $6,275 gross / $3,138 net
- 6 people: $7,192 gross / $3,596 net
- 7 people: $8,108 gross / $4,055 net
- 8 people: $9,025 gross / $4,513 net
- Each additional person: add $917 gross / $459 net
The gross figures come from 200% of the 2025 federal poverty guidelines.3HHS ASPE. 2025 Poverty Guidelines The net figures come from the USDA’s published limits for the current fiscal year.1Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility Most households have to clear both tests. The exception is covered further down.
How Household Size Is Counted
Because the limits scale with household size, getting the count right matters. Your SNAP household is everyone living with you who buys and prepares food together.4Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility – Section: Who Is in a SNAP Household? Spouses always count together, and so do children under 22 who live with a parent, even when they shop and cook separately.
There is one carve-out. A person 60 or older with a permanent disability who cannot prepare their own meals can be treated as a separate household along with their spouse, but only when the other people in the home earn below 165% of the poverty level.
What Counts Toward Your Income
Both earned and unearned income count against the limits. Earned income means wages, salaries, and net profit from self-employment. Unearned income includes:5WV Department of Health and Human Resources. WV Income Maintenance Manual – Chapter 10 Income
- Social Security and disability benefits
- Unemployment compensation
- Workers’ compensation
- Child support received
- Private pensions
A few things do not count. Student financial aid funded through Title IV of the Higher Education Act — Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, guaranteed student loans — is excluded, as are LIHEAP energy assistance payments. One-time money like a tax refund or insurance settlement is treated as an asset rather than income for the month it arrives.
Students enrolled at least half-time at a college, university, or trade school are generally shut out of SNAP regardless of income unless they fit an exemption, such as working 20 or more hours a week in paid employment, participating in a federal or state work-study program, caring for a child under 6, being under 18 or at least 50, being a single parent of a child under 12 while enrolled full-time, or receiving TANF.6Food and Nutrition Service. Students
Deductions That Lower the Number That Matters
Your gross income is only the first gate. The net income test is what often decides eligibility and benefit size, and several deductions pull the countable figure down.
Every household gets a flat standard deduction: $209 a month for one to three people, $223 for four, $261 for five, and $299 for six or more.7USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP FY2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustments Working members get an earned income deduction of 20% off gross earnings to cover taxes and job-related costs.
Dependent care costs — child care or care for an incapacitated adult, when needed so a household member can work, train, or go to school — are deductible in full. Shelter costs that run above half of income after other deductions can be deducted as the excess shelter deduction, up to $744 a month. That includes rent or mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and utilities, with West Virginia using standard utility allowances rather than requiring every bill. Households experiencing homelessness that have any shelter costs may instead claim a fixed homeless shelter deduction of $198.99 a month.
Add these up, subtract from gross, and the result is the net income that has to stay at or below the limits in the table above.
Special Rules for Seniors and People with Disabilities
Households that include someone age 60 or older or a person with a qualifying disability skip the gross income test entirely. Only net income is measured, against the same 100% of poverty limits shown earlier.
Two more rules work in these households’ favor. Out-of-pocket medical expenses above $35 per month for the elderly or disabled member can be deducted.8Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled And the excess shelter deduction has no cap for these households, so unusually high housing costs can continue reducing countable income past the $744 limit that applies to everyone else.7USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP FY2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustments
Asset limits also sit higher. Most West Virginia households face no asset test under broad-based categorical eligibility. For the few that do, the general limit is $3,000, and $4,500 for households with an elderly or disabled member.9Bureau for Family Assistance. SNAP Your home and the land it sits on are not counted.
When Benefits Could Start if You Qualify
Applications go through WV PATH online or on paper through the Bureau for Family Assistance.10West Virginia Department of Human Services. Benefits Application Standard decisions are issued within 30 calendar days of filing.11eCFR. 7 CFR 273.2 – Office Operations and Application Processing
Expedited benefits arrive within seven calendar days when any of three situations apply:
- Gross monthly income under $150 and liquid assets (cash, checking, and savings) of $100 or less
- Combined rent or mortgage plus utilities greater than monthly income and liquid assets combined
- A household member is a migrant or seasonal farm worker
Expect to complete an eligibility interview, usually by phone, before a final decision. Pay stubs for four consecutive weeks, award letters for any unearned income, and a lease or mortgage statement with recent utility bills will cover most verification.
Once approved, you only have to report mid-certification if your household’s gross income climbs above the limit for your household size, and you have until the 10th of the month after the change to report it. Most West Virginia SNAP cases are certified for 24 months, with a required review at month 12.