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.

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.