Income

• Oregon sets its eligibility for food stamps according to the federal standard for poverty. As of December 2010, a household has to make less than 185 percent of the income defined by the federal government as "poverty level." This number changes constantly and is dependent on the size of the household. For example, as of December 2010, the federal government stated that a household of four people earning less than $22,050 per year was living in poverty.
  
  

What Counts As Income

• The State of Oregon considers a number of different sources of money to be sources of income. While money earned from a job is, of course, income, so are a variety of government benefits, including Social Security payments and unemployment insurance benefits, as well as alimony and child support. All of a household's income will be totaled up to determine whether the household is eligible. However, several types of expenses can be deducted from this figure.
  
  

Deductions

• Applicants for food stamps can deduct a number of expenses from their income when determining their own eligibility. These include money spent on their residence, including mortgage payments, property taxes and maintenance costs; utilities; money used in caring for dependents; child support payments made to a child who does not live in the household; and, if a member of the household is elderly or disabled, money spent paying for his medical expenses.
  
  

Size of Benefits

• The amount that a household will receive in monthly benefits depends both on the amount of income that the household earns and the total number of people in the household. The less income the household earns and more people in the household, the more benefits it will receive. Prospective recipients can make an estimate of the amount of benefits they will receive using the State of Oregon's benefits calculator, listed in the Resources section.