Walmart and McDonald’s aren’t the SNAP kings anymore — Uber, Lyft and DoorDash lead in workers on food stamps

The next time you call an Uber ride or order food delivery with an app, there’s a good chance that the gig worker you meet is getting government benefits.

In 2025, companies such as DoorDash , Lyft and Uber had the most workers receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits among all major employers, according to a new Government Accountability Office report .

This marks a major shift from 2020, when an earlier GAO survey found that Walmart and McDonald’s took the top spots for SNAP recipients.

That finding may appear surprising to most Americans, who usually see platform-based work as a side hustle to earn extra cash.

In fact, these jobs are becoming more essential as a primary source of income, even as they fail to cover basic food and medical expenses for gig workers.

As a scholar of urban politics , I consider this finding an important part of the broader picture revealed in a survey of more than 1,000 Michigan residents that my institute conducted with the Michigan Metro Area Communities Study .

Roughly 22% of total respondents had engaged in gig work, and about half of those said gig work was essential or important to meeting their basic needs.

At the same time, safety net programs – paid for by taxpayers – are filling the gap when platform companies hire low-wage workers without offering traditional benefits.

Flexibility as a double-edged sword Major gig-work platforms, including Uber and Lyft, often describe their jobs as an opportunity for workers to earn income on their own terms and hours.

In this respect, they’re right.

In our survey, 9 in 10 workers said they valued the flexibility, and more than two-thirds reported positive experiences overall.

But gig workers also named pressing concerns, especially about transparency, pay and benefits.

The issue, then, isn’t whether workers want flexibility, but whether flexibility allows them to get by in today’s economy.

In fact, gig work may be supplemental, but it isn’t always optional.