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Resource | Research and Data | Payment Accuracy and Program Integrity The Extent of Trafficking in the SNAP: 2012–2014

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.

09/22/2017
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Trends in SNAP Participation Rates: FY 2010-2015

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.

06/30/2017
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Reaching Those in Need: Estimates of State SNAP Participation Rates in 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.

01/19/2017
Resource | Research and Data | Benefit Content/Cost Foods Typically Purchased by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Households

This study uses calendar year 2011 point-of-sale transaction data from a leading grocery retailer to examine the food choices of SNAP and non-SNAP households . On average, each month's transaction data contained over 1 billion records of food items bought by 26.5 million households in 127 million unique transactions.

11/18/2016
Resource | Research and Data | Assessing/Improving Operations Feasibility Study of Capturing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Purchases at the Point of Sale

This study examined the feasibility of creating a data collection system capable of directly and automatically providing USDA with item-level data on purchases made by SNAP households. Data would be captured at the point of sale from purchases made using EBT cards.

11/18/2016
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Trends in SNAP Participation Rates: FY 2010-2014

This report is the latest in a series of annual reports presenting information on estimated national SNAP participation rates among people eligible for benefits under federal income and asset rules.

06/01/2016
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Reaching Those in Need: Estimates of State SNAP Participation Rates in 2013

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 2013 and in the two previous fiscal years.

02/03/2016
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Trends in SNAP Participation Rates: FY 2010-2013

This report provides estimates of the percentage of individuals eligible for SNAP under the federal income and asset guidelines who participated in an average month in 2013. It provides national estimates for the general population and for subgroups, including children, the elderly, people living in households with various income sources, and noncitizens.

08/28/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Reaching Those in Need: Estimates of State SNAP Participation Rates in 2012

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 2012 and in the two previous fiscal years. This report also presents estimates of state participation rates for eligible “working poor” individuals (people in eligible households with earnings) over the same period.

02/10/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Policy Analysis The Characteristics and Circumstances of Zero-Income SNAP Households

This study describes the characteristics, circumstances, and participation and income dynamics of zero-income SNAP households and seeks to assess whether economic and policy changes may have affected this growth.

10/07/2014
Page updated: May 22, 2025