Data & Research
USDA produces four food plans outlining practical, nutritious diets at successively higher cost levels: the Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans. The Thrifty Food Plan serves as the basis for maximum allotments in SNAP.
This information collection addresses the mandatory state agency information and burden estimates associated with the following state agency options under SNAP: establishing and reviewing standard utility allowances and establishing methodology for offsetting cost of producing self-employment income.
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.
This report analyzes the findings from North Carolina’s Vehicle Exclusion Limit Demonstration, which excluded one vehicle per household, regardless of value, from the Food Stamp Program’s countable asset limit. Under current law, for most families, only the first $4,650 of the first vehicle’s value is excluded. Some have argued that because a reliable vehicle is often required to find and hold a job, the entire value of the first vehicle should be excluded.