What an Affordability Crisis Looks Like in a Phoenix Household’s Budget Without SNAP 

New analysis from the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, using the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, shows what Arizona’s affordability crisis looks like inside a Phoenix household budget: high housing, food, transportation, and other basic costs are leaving many families without enough to make ends meet. 

For young adults and families already trying to survive, this is not just a matter of cutting back. It is a monthly balancing act where one higher bill can force impossible choices about food, rent, transportation, utilities, medicine, or child care. 

And for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans who have lost SNAP benefits, the squeeze is even tighter. Food assistance is disappearing at the same time families are paying more to get to work, keep food on the table, and stay housed. As of April 2026, nearly 475,000 individuals including roughly 205,000 children have lost SNAP benefits since July 2025, the month Congress enacted H.R. 1. 

The latest analysis from the AZCenter helps show what monthly budgets may look like right now for households with very low income and how the loss of SNAP benefits is likely removing a significant source of stability for many Arizona families.

By the numbers:  What it takes to get by in Phoenix 

The table below looks at two potential SNAP beneficiaries in Phoenix, Arizona: a single parent with one child living on a very low income and a single adult living on a very low income.  

The federal government defines the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) as the minimum income a household needs to cover basic necessities. For a two-person household in Phoenix — in this case, one adult and one child — 100% of the FPL is about $21,640 a year, while 138% of the FPL is about $29,648 a year. For single-adult household in Phoenix, 100% of FPL is $15,650 a year, while 138% FPL is about $21,597 a year. 

These examples show how difficult it can be for an adult or family to make ends meet, even when working. For context, a single adult working full time, year-round at Phoenix’s minimum wage earns about $31,512 before taxes, which is close to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level for a two-person household. 

The table below compares monthly income plus SNAP benefits with selected basic monthly expenses based on EPI’s Family Budget Calculator, including housing and utilities, groceries, as well as payroll taxes for a one-person or two-person household in Phoenix. It does not include every cost a household may face, such as medical expenses, internet, phone bills, car payments, household supplies, child care, or emergencies. 

The bottom line: SNAP helps families put food on the table and frees up limited income for other basic expenses. But without SNAP, many households likely have no realistic way to make the monthly budget work. And even with SNAP, many may still be in the red as rising costs for gas, groceries, housing, and other necessities erode the purchasing power SNAP was designed to provide. 

Rising food and gas prices are adding pressure to already tight budgets 

Phoenix families across all income levels are still paying more for basic necessities, including food and gas.  

According to new Consumer Price Index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Phoenix gasoline price index increased by 37.1% from April 2025 to April 2026. 

Lower-income households are hit especially hard because gas takes up a larger share of their monthly budgets. A Bank of America Institute analysis found that in March 2026, lower-income households spent about 4.2% of their monthly income on gas, compared with 3.1% for the average household. 

And families are paying more for gas even when they are driving less. A separate analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that low-income households making less than $40,000 spent 12% more on gas in March 2026, even though they used 7% less gas. 

AZCenter’s analysis of BLS Consumer Expenditure data found that the average Phoenix household spent about $130 per vehicle per month on gasoline before the recent gas price increases. That means higher gas prices could add roughly $16 to $48 per vehicle per month for a low-income household, depending on whether the household is able to cut back on driving. 

For families already in the red, even that smaller increase matters. In a sprawling region like metro Phoenix, gas is difficult to cut from the budget because many families need to drive to work, school, child care, medical appointments, or grocery stores. 

Higher gas prices are hitting low-income families at the same time food, housing, and other basic costs remain high — leaving many households with little ability to cut further. 

SNAP losses are making the affordability crisis worse 

The scale of SNAP loss in Arizona is already clear: More than half of all individuals enrolled in Arizona lost food assistance, including over half of all children previously enrolled in the program.  

But the impact does not stop at the grocery store.   

SNAP helps families buy food, but it also frees up limited income for other essentials — rent, utilities, transportation, medicine, child care, or school expenses. When that support disappears, families still need to eat. The money has to come from somewhere else in the household budget.  

The Congressional Budget Office previously modeled that cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in H.R. 1 would reduce household resources for people in the bottom 10% of income. 

That can mean falling behind on rent to buy groceries. It can mean delaying a utility payment to fill the gas tank. It can mean skipping medicine, stretching meals, or going without other basic needs to keep the household afloat. 

For households that do not receive SNAP, this may still feel like someone else’s problem. It is not. 

When families lose food assistance, they spend less at grocery stores and local businesses. When they cannot keep up with bills, they are more likely to fall behind on rent. When they face eviction, children’s schooling, parents’ employment, and family health can all be disrupted. Those costs ripple through classrooms, workplaces, health systems, courts, landlords, and local governments. 

In other words, SNAP is not only a food program. It is part of the economic infrastructure that helps families stay stable and keeps money moving through local communities. 

Arizona can make different choices 

The economic reality is clear: Families are paying more for the essentials while many are receiving less support to meet them. 

Arizona can respond by making policy choices that strengthen household stability instead of deepening financial strain. That includes advancing more equitable tax reforms, closing corporate tax loopholes and preferential tax treatments that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, and protecting investments in the basics Arizona families and businesses rely on — including roads, water, public K-12 education, and other core services. 

The question is not whether families are feeling the squeeze. They are. 

The question is whether state leaders will recognize that rising costs, SNAP losses, and housing instability are connected — and respond with policies that help families keep food on the table, stay housed, and participate fully in Arizona’s economy.