The Hidden Cost of a Raise: How Benefit Cliffs Keep Families Struggling

May 18, 2026

Many neighbors who work full-time still need to visit a local food pantry to feed their families. They are employed in essential jobs — child care workers, patient care assistants, sanitation workers, restaurant staff — often earning minimum wage or just above it. Despite working hard, ongoing financial pressures from housing costs, utilities, and rising food prices make it difficult to stay afloat.

But there is another challenge many families face that is less visible: benefit cliffs.

“Benefit cliffs,” sometimes called the “cliff effect,” refer to the sudden and often unexpected loss of public assistance benefits after a small increase in earnings. A modest raise or promotion can push a family just above income eligibility thresholds, causing them to lose critical support such as SNAP benefits, housing assistance, or subsidized child care — even though their higher paycheck still is not enough to cover basic living expenses.

Cynthia Newton, Ph.D., Delaware State University’s College of Health and Behavioral Sciences Director of Partnerships and Programs, has seen firsthand how benefit cliffs affect working families, especially women and children.

Often, she explained, when one benefit is lost, a domino effect follows.

“When SNAP benefits are cut, families may also lose housing or child-care subsidies,” Dr. Newton said. “Fifty percent of SNAP recipients are children.”

The consequences extend far beyond a family’s grocery budget.

Social psychology research has long identified the social determinants of health — the conditions that influence physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Dr. Newton said the constant fear of losing access to food, shelter, and safety creates chronic stress that affects every part of a person’s life.

“People are under constant stress and develop a survivalist way of thinking,” she explained. “It goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy: food, shelter, and safety.”

That stress can make everyday responsibilities harder to manage.

“It may take four to eight times longer to accomplish tasks when someone is worrying about transportation or child care,” Dr. Newton said. “It impacts mental health and coping mechanisms. There may be poor judgment because people are operating in survival mode.”

Food insecurity is also more complex than simply having enough to eat.

Low-income families may have access to food, but often not healthy food. Less nutritious options are typically less expensive and more accessible. At the same time, families balancing rising rent, utility bills, and transportation costs are forced to make impossible choices.

“Benefits — SNAP, child care, and housing subsidies — all go hand-in-hand,” Dr. Newton said. “People know that even a small raise can cause benefits to disappear, so some may turn down better-paying jobs because they cannot risk losing assistance.”

The result is a cycle that can keep families trapped in poverty despite their efforts to move forward.

Eligibility rules and recertification requirements add additional burdens. Some neighbors must repeatedly provide documentation every six months to maintain assistance.

“It’s not easy,” Dr. Newton said. “We often frame it as a moral failure instead of recognizing it as a social issue.”

For many families, technology has become another barrier. Accessing services increasingly requires reliable internet, smartphones, or secure document storage — resources many struggling households do not have.

“If you can’t afford or manage a phone, you lose access to services,” Dr. Newton said. “People who are unhoused or living in vehicles may not have a safe place to keep documents or fresh food. There’s so much we take for granted.”

At local food pantries, these stories are increasingly common.

Erica, one of the Food Bank’s neighbors, works full-time as a patient aide in a nursing home. After years at the same job, she finally received a raise. But soon afterward, her rent increased, and the slight wage increase caused her to lose SNAP assistance. The extra income did not come close to covering the loss in benefits and higher housing costs.

Another neighbor, Kelli, is raising three children while working long hours in a fast-paced restaurant. A recent promotion brought a small pay increase — and the loss of SNAP benefits. Now she regularly visits a food pantry to help feed her family.

Neighbors receiving government-assisted child care or housing support often do not realize the impact of these benefit cliffs until after assistance is reduced or eliminated.

Some states have begun addressing benefit cliffs through legislation and pilot programs designed to preserve economic stability and encourage upward mobility. Across the country, public, private, and nonprofit employers are also developing tools and initiatives to help workers better understand how raises or promotions could affect benefits eligibility.

In Delaware, however, there is currently no legislation or statewide policy specifically addressing benefit cliffs.

Meanwhile, families continue navigating impossible trade-offs between earning more income and maintaining the support systems that help them survive.

Food pantries can help fill immediate gaps, but they cannot solve the larger issue.

“There’s really no quick fix,” Dr. Newton said. “Everybody is reeling. Nobody knows how to bounce back from the cuts, and they’re not thinking long-term.”