This report is the latest in a series of annual reports providing information about the demographic and economic circumstances of households and individuals participating in SNAP at both the national and state level. Because SNAP is available to most low-income households, participants represent a broad cross section of the nation's poor. This report covers fiscal year 2016.
This study examines how the policies that determine benefit levels for the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program compare to current low-income spending patterns by analyzing the expenditures of low-income households across the United States in 2013 and 2014.
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.
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 is the latest in a series on SNAP participation rates, which estimate the proportion of people eligible for benefits under federal income and asset rules who actually participate in the program. This report presents estimates of participation rates for FY 2015, comparing them to estimates of participation rates for FYs 2010 through 2014.
This report – part of an annual series – presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2014 and in the two previous fiscal years. This report also presents estimates of state participation rates for eligible “working poor” individuals (persons in households with earnings) over the same period.
This report presents the characteristics of food stamp households nationwide in fiscal year 2000 (October 1999 to September 2000). This information on household characteristics comes from FSP household data for fiscal year 2000 collected by FNS for quality control purposes.
This report examines trends in FSP participation rates since 1994. It focuses on trends in the rates before and after welfare reform, and throughout much of the economic expansion of the 1990s. It also examines trends in participation rates among subgroups of the eligible population such as those with and without earnings, with and without children, and with and without welfare. It also looks at participation rates of aliens and able-bodied adults without children.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 imposed a work requirement and time limit on food stamp recipients viewed as fit to work – able-bodied adults without dependents. ABAWD participants are limited to three months of benefits in a three-year period unless they meet a work requirement. This study provides a national picture of how states implemented the ABAWD provisions and who was affected.
Over the last decade, food stamp participation rose more sharply than expected following the relatively short and mild recession in the early 1990s and fell more sharply than expected after 1994 during the sustained period of economic growth. Report language accompanying the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2001 directed the Food and Nutrition Service to study the decline in participation in the Food Stamp Program.