New report outlines how many people might lose SNAP in Greater Boston under Trump bill

A new report from a Boston research center sheds light on how the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill will affect people who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  (SNAP) benefits in Greater Boston.

About 40,000 adult SNAP recipients are at risk of losing their food assistance due to the new federal law, according to the Meeting the Moment: SNAP Cuts and the Local Fallout report released Tuesday by Boston Indicator, a research center at the nonprofit Boston Foundation. That figure translates to roughly 7% of adults who use SNAP in the Boston area.

Researchers also found that about 9,600 legally present immigrants in Massachusetts may now lose SNAP eligibility under the new rules.

The sweeping bill includes cuts and reforms to safety-net programs, including SNAP and Medicaid, and tightens work and eligibility requirements. While the bill provides tax benefits to higher-income households, opponents say it unfairly targets lower-income families who will be forced to struggle more with health coverage and food assistance.

The report states that as of July 2025, Greater Boston accounted for 56 percent of Massachusetts’ SNAP caseload—361,473 cases and 578,686 clients. 

The largest concentrations are in cities such as Lawrence and Brockton, where more than one-third of residents rely on SNAP benefits. Residents of Lowell, Lynn, Chelsea, Randolph, Wareham, Methuen, and Haverhill also heavily rely on food assistance, with between 22 and 28 percent of people in those cities receiving benefits. 

In Boston, approximately 21 percent of the population, or 138,523 clients, rely on SNAP benefits.

“In a state as wealthy as Massachusetts, no one should go hungry,” researchers wrote in the report. “Yet even here, many families struggle to afford healthy food. For decades, [SNAP] has helped close that gap. But the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ recently passed by Congress and signed by President Trump risks undercutting progress we have made in reducing food insecurity in Massachusetts.”

Researchers said the new rules will shift SNAP administrative costs to the state, forcing Massachusetts to cover 75% of SNAP administration costs—up from 50%. This would have resulted in an additional $58 million in fiscal year 2025, increasing total state costs to $175 million, according to the report. 

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.