We periodically examine how SNAP households use their monthly EBT benefits, including number of purchase transactions per month, average purchase amount, types of retailers frequented, and rate at which households exhaust their benefits over the month. This study, the fourth in the series, was done to assess monthly EBT redemption patterns during FY 2022 when SNAP EBT benefits were much larger than usual due to pandemic funding. By FY 2022, SNAP households could also use SNAP EBT to purchase groceries from authorized online retailers, so we analyzed benefits redeemed through online purchasing.
We periodically examine SNAP 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.
President Trump made a commitment to the American people to cut wasteful spending, Make America Healthy Again, and to combat fraud, waste, and abuse—restoring common sense to government. Under the leadership of Secretary Rollins, USDA’s FNS has taken swift and decisive action to be representative of the change the American people voted for.
We release annual reports describing the persons and households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This report uses the fiscal year 2023 SNAP Quality Control data to examine the demographic characteristics and economic circumstances of SNAP households at the national and state level.
The WIC and FMNP Modernization Evaluation tracks the progress and outcomes of program modernization efforts funded by Congress in 2021. This first annual report provides an overview of the WIC and FMNP modernization efforts underway and highlights early implementation findings, covering activities from September 2022 - September 2024.
We publish national SNAP participation rates, which are estimated percentages of people who are eligible for SNAP who participate in the program. On this page, you can access published reports that go back to 1994. Each report includes national participation and benefit receipt rates for all individuals, households, and certain subgroups. Most reports compare rates across fiscal years to demonstrate recent trends in SNAP participation.
We publish SNAP participation rates for each state, which are estimated percentages of all people who are eligible for SNAP who participate in the program. For most years, we also estimate participation rates for “working poor” people, who are eligible people that live in households with income from a job. On this page, you can access published reports that go back to 1994. Each link includes a research brief, and a technical report detailing the methodology used.
The goal of this study was to pilot creating a WIC participant characteristics (PC) longitudinal data set with one WIC state agency. Eight state agencies with varying management information systems (MIS) platforms and high quality WIC PC 2020 data completed a survey about their MIS and longitudinal data provision capabilities. The survey assessed these state agencies’ MIS capabilities, as measured in six areas, to provide a longitudinal data set. This report describes the process of working with one WIC state agency to create a pilot WIC PC longitudinal data set of infant and child participants and the challenges and successes of this effort.
This document supplements the "Keys to Payment Accuracy" and "Keys to Application Processing Timeliness" guides by highlighting strategies and considerations for state agencies to ensure they meet program requirements for both priorities.
This data collection fulfills states' reporting requirements and describes trends in program participation during the COVID-19 pandemic from July 2021 through September 2022. It is part of an ongoing study series examining child nutrition program operations, repurposed to collect waiver usage and trends in program participation and operations during the pandemic.