BALTIMORE — The United States Department of Agriculture is out with its annual State by State analysis of SNAP payouts.
In fiscal year 2025 Maryland was among America's top 10 states with the highest error rates.
According to newly released USDA data, Maryland had a 13.08 percent overall error rate last year.
Broken down, the State overpaid at a rate of 10.89 percent while underpaying at 2.19%.
That means Maryland overpaid SNAP recipients by a larger margin in 2025 than in 2024, which saw an 8.85% error rate.
A legislative state audit conducted in 2022 uncovered similar issues, noting that 86,479 ineligible Maryland households collected SNAP benefits.
“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins.
Underpayments, meanwhile, decreased in Maryland from 2024 (4.79%) to 2025 (2.19%).
Because of this, the state's overall error rate decreased from 13.64 percent in 2024 to 13.08% in 2025.
That prompted the Maryland Department of Human Services to take a victory lap.
"The latest federal data demonstrate that the Maryland Department of Human Services is rebuilding core program operations through targeted reforms: strengthening frontline staffing, improving worker training, simplifying paperwork, modernizing data tools, and identifying errors before they affect families," the department said in a statement.
“Maryland inherited one of the highest SNAP payment error rates in America. Today, we are leading the country in turning it around,” added Acting Secretary Stacy L. Rodgers.
Since President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, his administration has attempted to crack down on potential fraud within the SNAP program.
In doing so, the White House launched an initiative to review personal information of SNAP recipients, while also restricting the program's availability for asylees and refugees who've been granted permanent residency or green cards.
Maryland's Attorney General Anthony Brown, however, fought the feds in their efforts by suing.
As court battles have continued to play out, Congress in the meantime added guardrails to SNAP in Trump's signature "Big Beautiful Bill."
With that legislation now in effect, States with error rates at or above 6% will be responsible for covering between 5 and 15 percent of SNAP's implementation beginning on October 1, 2027.
Additionally, States reaching the 6% threshold are lawfully required to submit a Corrective Action Plan to USDA detailing improvements and fixes to their SNAP payment processes.
As it stands now, Maryland is well above the 6 percent mark.
