How to Find Out If I Qualify for Food Stamps in North Carolina

Food Stamps can be used at grocery stores to buy meal ingredients and non-alcoholic beverages.

If you are applying for food stamps and are receiving no other sources of public assistance, including Social Security Disability payments and Work First payments, your gross income (pay before deductions) and resources will be counted to determine if you are eligible. The only way to get a true ruling on your eligibility is to formally apply for food stamps. There are some ways to get a general idea of whether you qualify in North Carolina; case determination may be more complicated depending on your particular situation.

Things You'll Need

• Pay stubs or printouts of income information

Instructions

1. Gather your pay stubs or other records of income. If you are paid weekly, find all consecutive stubs with pay dates, not periods, listed for the previous calendar month. If you are paid biweekly or twice per month, gather one month of pay data. If you are paid monthly, gather the past two month's records. If you are paid daily or have irregular pay, such as people who work temporary jobs, gather all records you can find for the past two months. If you are receiving any other sources of income, such as child support, you must count that also if it is received regularly.

2. Calculate your income. Calculate your gross income as follows. People paid weekly should find the average of all pay received in a month and then multiply that average by 4.3. People paid every two weeks should find the average of the checks they received in the prior month and then multiply that sum by 2.15. People paid monthly should average the last two months' checks and use the number they receive as monthly income. People who are paid daily should total their income for the previous month.

3. Refer to the state's income limits for your household size which is available online at the link to the Department of Health and Human Services. Your household size is how many people will be listed on your food stamps application. You cannot be separate from your child or a child's other parent if they live in your house, and you may not exclude your parents (and their income) if you are younger than 22.

4. List your countable resources and determine whether they put you over the acceptable limit. If you have more than $2,000 in resources, including cash, countable vehicles (vehicles that exceed the number of adults in the household who can drive them), and other assets, you will have to apply after you no longer have those resources to draw on.

5. Proceed to your county's Social or Human Services department to apply in person if you appear to be under the income limit for your household size. If you exceed these limits you may have to wait until your situation changes or income decreases.

Tips & Warnings

• Regardless of what debts you owe, food stamps eligibility requires you to meet the income and resource requirements before any other considerations are made, so do not deduct those from your pay to reduce your income.

• If you have been convicted of a drug felony other than type H or I, you will never be eligible for food stamps, but you may apply for your children if they live with you.

References

• Health and Human Services: Budgeting Stable Income
• Health and Human Services: Budgeting Fluctuating Income
• Health and Human Services: Resources

Resources

• NC Food and Nutrition Services