If you live in one of these states and your wallet is starting to feel tight from all the extra costs that come up around Christmas, you may be in luck.
Families from all over the state are coming to visit for Christmas, which may be making some households worry about the extra gifts and living costs. But if you get the last few stimulus and SNAP payments before 2025, you might get a Christmas present early.
SNAP: Helping vulnerable families during Christmas
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which used to be called Food Stamps, is a lifeline for many people all year long, not just during the holidays.
SNAP helps families and individuals who are weak or do not have much money keep food on the table so they do not go hungry. Coming up on Christmas, many families with SNAP-eligible children will be worried about making sure they can give their kids a good Christmas.
The amount of SNAP money you get to pay for food depends on your family size and income, but as of October 2024, these amounts are what are given out:
- Household size 1: $292
- Household size 2: $536
- Household size 3: $768
- Household size 4: $975
- Household size 5: $1158
- Household size 6: $1390
- Household size 7: $1536
- Household size 8: $1,756
If you get SNAP payments, look at this list to see when you will get your payment before Christmas, since payment dates vary from state to state:
- Alabama: December 4-23
- Alaska: December 1
- Arizona: December 1-13
- Arkansas: December 4-13
- California: December 1-10
- Colorado: December 1-10
- Connecticut: December 1-3
- Delaware: December 2-23
- District of Columbia: December 1-10
- Florida: from December 1 to 28
- Georgia: December 5 to 23
- Hawaii: December 3-5
- Idaho: December 1-10
- Illinois: December 1-10 and previous cases December 1-20
- Indiana: December 5-23
- Iowa: December 1-10
- Kansas: December 1-10
- Kentucky: December 1-19
- Louisiana: December 1-23
- Maine: December 10-14
- Maryland: December 4-23
- Massachusetts: December 1-14
- Michigan: December 3-21
- Minnesota: December 4-13
- Mississippi: December 4-21
- Missouri: December 1 to 22
- Montana: December 2-6
- Nebraska: December 1-5
- Snowfall: December 1-10
- New Hampshire: December 5
- New Jersey: December 1-5
- New Mexico: December 1-20
- New York: December 1-9
- North Carolina: December 3-21
- North Dakota: December 1
- Oklahoma: December 1-10
- Oregon: December 1-9
- Pennsylvania: December 3-14
- Rhode Island: December 1
- South Carolina: December 1-10
- South Dakota: December 10
- Tennessee: December 1-20
- Texas: December 1-28
- Utah: December 5, 11 and 15
- Vermont: December 1
- Virginia: December 1-7
- Washington: December 1-20
- West Virginia: December 1-9
- Wisconsin: December 1-15
- Wyoming: December 1-4
Last Stimulus Check payments for 2024 to be distributed before Christmas
You may be able to get extra money from the last few Stimulus Checks that will be sent out before the new year, in addition to your SNAP payments.
A lot of families need stimulus checks to help them deal with the rising cost of living and inflation while still paying their bills. This is especially true for families with kids and low incomes.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) payments were sent to eligible residents of Mesa County, Colorado, last week. The nearly 115,000 registered voters in the area get extra money back from TABOR. Mesa Country made more than the TABOR limit of $11,492,270 million last year. Because of this, by December 16, every registered voter got $100 back.
Alaskans should have gotten their Permanent Fund Dividend (PDF) payments on December 19. The PDF gives Alaskans a chance to share in the country’s oil and natural resource income every year.
This year, people who were eligible got a little more than $1,300. Six hundred thousand Alaskans benefited from the program this year. But for some, they will not get paid until January 2025.
Stimulus Checks continue to be essential for millions of Americans
People have been speculating about what will happen to Stimulus Checks lately, but it is important to remember that they are still very important to the American economy and will not be going away any time soon.
There is hope that fewer people will need to get help from government programs like SNAP or Stimulus Checks next year as the world comes out from under the shadow of COVID-19 and the cost of living starts to level off.