Alaska SNAP error rate tops nation for fourth straight year at 23%

Alaska exempt from SNAP cost-sharing rule through 2030

Alaska’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recorded the highest payment error rate in the United States for the fourth consecutive year in fiscal 2025, with 23% of recipients receiving benefits that were significantly above or below the correct amount, according to a report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in late June.

The national average error rate across all states was 11%, the USDA said. The majority of Alaska’s errors were overpayments, the federal report found. The USDA stated that the high error rate does not indicate fraud.

Alaska’s 2025 error rate marks a decline from 25% in 2024 and a sharp drop from the 55% error rate recorded in 2022 and 2023, when more than half of all SNAP payments were incorrect. The state’s Division of Public Assistance, which declined an interview request, attributed the improvement to an ongoing modernization effort.

“While the rate remains higher than we want it to be, the trend is moving in the right direction, and DPA is continuing to implement its federally approved investment plan to improve payment accuracy over time,” Department of Health spokesperson Mirna Estrada said in an emailed statement. She said the division expects continued improvement through major IT upgrades, workflow improvements, and process redesign, with the full modernization scheduled to finish in 2028.

The persistent error rate has already cost Alaska millions of dollars in federal penalties over the past two years, and the 2025 figure could trigger additional fines. Beyond that, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump, introduces a new layer of state financial responsibility for SNAP errors.

The law requires states to pay a portion of historically federally funded benefits based on their error rate. For Alaska, that cost shift would amount to nearly $40 million annually if applied today. However, a carveout won by Sen. Lisa Murkowski exempts Alaska from the requirement until possibly as late as 2030.

Despite the carveout, Alaska’s share of the cost of running the SNAP program is set to increase by roughly $11 million each year under a separate provision of the same bill that reduces the federal share of administrative costs, according to legislative fiscal analysts.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release that the error rates “are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP.” She said the USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste.