Series Overview
Households redeem their monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, received through an electronic benefit transfer (EBT), to purchase food at authorized retailers. We periodically examine the benefit redemption patterns related to the timing, number, and dollar amount of transactions and the rate at which households spend down and exhaust their monthly benefits. These studies also report on the number of transactions made and the share of benefits redeemed at various types of stores. Beginning with the fiscal year (FY) 2022 study, store types authorized to redeem SNAP benefits include online retailers. Date sources available for the analyses do not have item level information on what is purchased during a transaction.
