SNAP State Activity Reports

This is a report of state activity in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The data contained herein is state reported data or data calculated from state reported data for fiscal year (FY) 2021. 

On March 18, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (FFCRA) was signed into law. This legislation provided for the issuance of emergency allotments based on the federal public health emergency (PHE) along with a state declaration of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency allotments are supplements to a household’s SNAP benefits and are added on to a household’s monthly benefit. Emergency allotment data are available in Section I of this report. While this report includes data on emergency allotments, it does not include Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) data. FFCRA established P-EBT in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is a separate program from SNAP. 

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) pays approximately 50 percent of state agency administrative costs to operate the program, however in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress made available two new funding sources that paid 100 percent of state agency administrative costs.

On Dec. 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) was signed into law. Section 702(c) of the CAA allocated an additional $100 million in 100 percent state administrative expense (SAE) funding to state agencies administering SNAP. As required by the CAA, 75 percent of these funds were allocated to states based on each state's respective share of households that participate in SNAP. The remaining 25 percent was allocated to states based on the increase in the number of participating households. FNS distributed $100 million in CAA funding, with states expending $85 million in FY 2021. More information on these funds is available in Section II of this report. 

On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law. Section 1101(b) of the ARPA provided an additional $1.135 billion in 100 percent SAE funding to state agencies to support the administration of SNAP. FNS sought to distribute $245 million in FY 2021, and $445 million in FY 2022 and FY 2023. To request these funds, state agencies were required to submit a plan describing how they proposed to spend the additional 100 percent SAE funding. Based on the requests submitted, FNS distributed just over $200 million of this SAE funding to state agencies in FY 2021. 

FY 2021 data in this report reflect FNS National Data Bank (NDB) totals as of Nov. 2023. As may be expected in a report of this size, which consolidates information collected through multiple state data sources, there may be discrepancies in reported data. States report nearly all the data in this report on a quarterly or yearly basis. Differences in state reporting methods may lead to minor discrepancies in the data included in this report. In addition, some data may be revised after the publication of this report in part due to the reporting changes and complexities that States faced during the public health emergency. 

To assist the reader, end notes are provided at the conclusion of the report identifying the data sources and other pertinent information for each individual section. All data, except Treasury offset collection data, was compiled from the NDB, FNS’s official repository of SNAP data.

Treasury offset collection data is derived from administrative offset weekly statistical reports prepared by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

This report was prepared by the SNAP Program Administration and Nutrition Division. If there are any questions concerning the data in this publication, contact the SNAP Program Administration and Nutrition Division’s State Administration Branch at SM.FN.SNAPSAB@usda.gov.