Data & Research
This study evaluated the implications of online SNAP benefit redemption on program integrity. In addition, the study gathered basic information about online benefit redemption, including the use in urban and rural settings.
Review your statewide factsheet for information about SNAP participation, food insecurity, and SNAP's economic impact in your state.
This study evaluated emerging mobile communication strategies (MCS) technology, both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary purpose of this study was to better understand the existing landscape of MCS technology, and highlight best practices and lessons learned for from the use of MCS programs by SNAP state agencies.
This report presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2019 and in the two previous fiscal years. SNAP eligibility criteria include maximum income and resource thresholds, as well as certain nonfinancial criteria, such as age and disability status.
To explore other options for assessing impacts, FNS awarded a contract to provide FNS with new information on: experiences and satisfaction of participants in FNS programs, and impacts of program participation on food security, diet quality, and other indicators of household well-being.
A summary of past research on program operations and outcomes related to the Food Stamp Program.
Most discussion of payment accuracy in the Food Stamp Program focuses on the overall level and cost of payment errors. Rarely does the discussion focus on the impact of payment errors on individual households affected. This analysis – based on 2003 food stamp quality control data – leads to two broad conclusions. First, virtually all households receiving food stamps are eligible. Thus, the problem of erroneous payments is not so much one of determining eligibility, but rather one of attempting to finely target benefits to the complicated and changing circumstances of low-income households. Second, most overpayments to eligible households are small relative to household income and official poverty standards. As a result, most food stamp households are poor, and they remain poor even when overpaid.
Interest, research, and expenditures on dietary supplements are growing very fast. Americans spent $8.2 billion in 1995 for vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, and sports nutrition products. About half of all Americans reported at least some use of vitamins and minerals in response to recent surveys. The general goal of the study is to examine existing data that bear on a diverse set of pertinent issues.
In the past, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has relied on a series of large surveys to gather and compare information on food expenditures and food consumption among participants and non-participants to better understand the impacts of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on the diet and nutritional status of program participants. Studies based on survey data, however, have a number of drawbacks, including the time and expense of collecting the survey data, sampling error, response bias, errors in respondent recall, and misinformation about what may have been purchased or consumed.
In this report, data from the NFSPS are used to address several important questions concerning food store access of low-income households, including: (1) At what kinds of stores do low-income households shop? (2) What distances do low-income households travel to reach those stores? (3) What transportation methods do they use to reach their food stores? (4) Do low-income households engage in careful shopping behaviors that can allow them to get the most out of the money and food stamp benefits they spend on food? and (5) In general, how satisfied are low-income Americans with their shopping opportunities?