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.
The Expenditures on Children by Families annual report provides estimates of the cost of raising children from birth through age 17 for different budgetary components, including food, housing, transportation, health care, clothing, child care and education, and miscellaneous costs.
In May 2011 the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, with funding from FNS, competitively awarded a first round of grants to five large and eight small projects in the amount of $2.45 million to qualified individuals and institutions to provide rigorous research that expands our understanding of hunger among children in the United States and the attendant policy implications.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its annual report, Expenditures on Children by Families, also known as the Cost of Raising a Child. The report shows that a middle-income family with a child born in 2012 can expect to spend about $241,080 ($301,970 adjusted for projected inflation) for food, shelter, and other necessities associated with child-rearing expenses over the next 17 years.
The in-depth interviews discussed in this report consist of detailed discussions with 90 SNAP households with children in 6 states (California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Texas) about their financial situations, their use of SNAP, and their overall food security.
The purpose of this study was to examine how to define “adequacy” of SNAP allotments objectively in the context of program goals to improve food security and access to a healthy diet, existing data sources that could inform an assessment of the adequacy of existing and potential alternative SNAP allotments, and new data requirements to strengthen the evidence-base and allow for further rigorous analyses.