This report examines patterns of SNAP benefit redemption in Fiscal Year 2017 and compares those patterns with findings from two similar studies conducted for Fiscal Years 2003 and 2009.

The SNAP E&T pilot projects give Congress, USDA, and states the opportunity to test innovative strategies and approaches that connect low-income households to good paying jobs and thereby reduce their reliance on public assistance.

This report, the latest in an annual series dating back to 1976, provides information about the demographic and economic circumstances of SNAP households. Using a sample of SNAP Quality Control data that is representative at both the state and national level, this report summarizes the characteristics of households and individuals who participated in SNAP in fiscal year 2018.

This report, part of an annual series, presents estimates, by state, of the percentage of eligible persons and working poor individuals who participated in SNAP during an average month in fiscal year (FY 2017) and the two previous fiscal years.

As required by federal law, state SNAP agencies verify financial and non-financial information by matching SNAP applicant and participant information to various national and state data sources to ensure they meet the program’s eligibility criteria. Data matching is an important tool for ensuring program integrity and benefit accuracy. However,  information on states’ data matching practices and protocols is limited. This study was undertaken to address this knowledge gap.

This report examined some of the key food and financial challenges, as well as factors that influence SNAP participation choices, among elderly people. It also assessed how States implemented interventions designed to improve elderly access to SNAP, and their impacts.

Section 4022 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized and funded the SNAP E&T pilots, which enabled the USDA Food and Nutrition Service and states to expand SNAP E&T programs and test innovative strategies to connect SNAP participants with good-paying jobs, thereby increasing their incomes and reducing the need for nutrition assistance benefits. This is the fifth annual report to Congress.

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.

This report is the latest in a series of publications presenting estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participate in the Food Stamp Program. The participation rate – a ratio of the number of participants to the number of people eligible for benefits – is an important measure of program performance. 

FNS and other researchers have used a variety of approaches to calculate food stamp participation rates. While different approaches can look similar in concept, the results – for particular states or for the nation as a whole – can often look quite different. These differences can be confusing for users who seek to describe the success of the Food Stamp Program without becoming experts in statistics and data analysis. This paper provides an overview and comparison of two sets of estimates produced by FNS as indicators of Food Stamp Program performance.