This report is the latest in a series of annual reports providing information about the demographic and economic circumstances of households and individuals participating in SNAP at both the national and state level. Because SNAP is available to most low-income households, participants represent a broad cross section of the nation's poor. This report covers fiscal year 2016.
This study examines how the policies that determine benefit levels for the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program compare to current low-income spending patterns by analyzing the expenditures of low-income households across the United States in 2013 and 2014.
Trafficking of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits occurs when SNAP recipients sell their benefits for cash to food retailers, often at a discount. Although trafficking does not increase costs to the federal government, it is a diversion of program benefits from their intended purpose of helping low-income families access a nutritious diet. This report, the latest in a series of periodic analyses, provides estimates of the extent of trafficking during the period 2012 through 2014.
This study develops standard methodologies that might be used to construct standard utility allowances, which are used by States as part of the SNAP eligibility and benefit determination.
This report is the latest in a series on SNAP participation rates, which estimate the proportion of people eligible for benefits under federal income and asset rules who actually participate in the program. This report presents estimates of participation rates for FY 2015, comparing them to estimates of participation rates for FYs 2010 through 2014.
This report – part of an annual series – presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2014 and in the two previous fiscal years. This report also presents estimates of state participation rates for eligible “working poor” individuals (persons in households with earnings) over the same period.
This report explores the feasibility and potential cost of enabling EBT systems to differentiate between program-eligible and ineligible items. It considers the cost of upgrading systems in stores that now have scanners and the cost of installing new systems in stores without scanners. The report also examines the potential for the purchase of ineligible items even with the introduction of new technological controls.
This pamphlet provides estimates for Food Stamp Program participation rates by states. It will be the first widely-released document showing the percentage of eligible people, by state, who actually participate in the program. Because the data are from January 1994, prior to the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, they provide baseline data on participation rates prior to the enactment of welfare reform.
This report inventories technological approaches to portable on-line authorization and reports on their technical and cost feasibility, advantages/disadvantages and potential impacts.
This report is the first to present information on a little-known segment of the Food Stamp population that has been profoundly affected by welfare reform—unemployed, childless, 18-50 year old able-bodied adults. As government agencies find themselves having to learn quickly about those affected by the new rules of public assistance , the need to gather timely and accurate information has never been greater.