Most families and individuals who meet the program’s income guidelines are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). The size of a family’s SNAP benefit is based on its income and certain expenses. This paper provides a short summary of SNAP eligibility and benefit calculation rules that are in effect for federal fiscal year 2023, which began in October 2022.

Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) had the authority to grant certain programmatic waivers to state agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). FNS issued waivers to provide flexibilities to requirements that could not be met as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and support continued access to WIC services. When this waiver authority ended on September 30, 2021, FNS had approved 16 types of WIC waivers and 831 individual waiver requests across the 89 WIC state agencies. This report summarizes details on the use and impact of these waivers.

The federal government currently has five primary programs designed to feed school-age children: the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Seamless Summer Option, and the Summer Food Service Program. Each program has distinct meal costs, eligibility requirements, and reimbursement processes for the meals served. While all public schools have the option to participate in each of these federal meal programs, they may choose to opt out of any of them. Recognizing the multitude of benefits for students, families, and schools, this report illustrates how five states—California, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, and New Mexico—have acted to independently serve free school meals for all students. In the absence of continued federal investment, this strategy is essential for ensuring that students are well fed and ready to learn during the school day.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, reaching 38 million people nationwide in 2019 alone. These fact sheets provide state-by-state data on who participates in the SNAP program, the benefits they receive, and SNAP’s role in strengthening the economy.

These factsheets provide information on federal child nutrition programs at national and state levels. Datasets include national level data from FY1969-2022 which cover participation and meals served under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP); outlets and milk served under the Special Milk Program (SMP); program costs for NSLP, SBP, and SMP; participation, meals, and costs for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); and participation, meals, and costs for the Summer Food Service Program. Datasets also include National Level Monthly Data for NSLP, SBP, and CACFP during FY2020-FY2023; historical State Level Tables for these programs during FY2018-2022; and State Level Tables with current year data. Data is available in .pdf and .xlsx formats.

Since 2011, Feeding America has conducted an annual Map the Meal Gap study to improve understanding of food insecurity and food costs at the local level. This study provides data with a focus on the extent and variation in local food insecurity levels in 2021. A strong public and private response to the COVID-19 crisis helped mitigate national food insecurity from rising significantly in 2020, and many of the response efforts continued at heightened levels into 2021. The result at the national level was a decline in food insecurity in 2021 for both the overall population and for children, with rates reaching the lowest levels on record. But the study also shows that food insecurity did not improve everywhere, and significant disparities continue to exist both within and across geographies.

Despite federal stopgap policies and a substantial charitable food response to mitigate the effects of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger remains a reality for many across the U.S. struggling to make ends meet. Although charitable resources such as food banks were highly visible in the early months of the pandemic, they continue to be a crucial resource for families two years later. This brief analyzes data from the December 2021 round of the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, a nationally representative survey of more than 8,000 adults, in comparison to results from the December 2019 and December 2020 rounds to examine the trend in free-grocery or free-meal use. It also examines the characteristics and circumstances of people who sought charitable food during 2021.

While a wide range of factors contributes to an individual’s economic mobility or movement up and down the economic ladder, the ties between food insecurity and economic inequality are demonstrated. Individuals who experience a lack of food security face mental and physical health consequences that can directly impact their employment status, use of the health care system, and other factors that impact upward mobility. Jurisdictions are working to improve the food security of residents by integrating local efforts and working with key community partners to enhance food production, transportation, and distribution. The National Association of Counties and National League of Cities held a webinar in June 2022 that featured an expert overview of the state of food insecurity in the United States as well as example solutions from Franklin County, Ohio and Dane County, Wisconsin.

Since 2011, Feeding America has conducted an annual Map the Meal Gap study to improve understanding of food insecurity and food costs at the local level. This 2022 report presents 2020 estimates of food insecurity for the overall population and children at multiple geographic levels, including counties, food bank service areas, congressional districts and states. The study also examines differences in local food insecurity rates by race and ethnicity.

This blogpost illustrates food insecurity data and the impact of relief measures on food insecurity. The most recent annual U.S. Department of Agriculture report shows that some 13.5 million households with 33.8 million people were food insecure at some point during 2021. The data tell two stories: on one hand, food insecurity remains too high, being higher both for households with children than without, and for those with members of color than for white households. But overall food insecurity in 2021 was statistically unchanged from 2019 and 2020, even amid a pandemic; it improved for households headed by a Black adult, and it reached a two-decade low for households with children. The rate held steady during the COVID-19 pandemic and is not significantly different from the 10.5 percent rate for 2019 and 2020 due to robust relief measures policymakers enacted. These include Economic Impact Payments, an expanded Child Tax Credit, improved unemployment insurance, and expanded food assistance, along with SNAP’s built-in ability to respond to increased need.