Press Release

Are Food Stamps Reaching Those in Need?
New Publication Looks at State Participation Rates for 2005

Contact: Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 28, 2007)—Are the people who need food stamp benefits getting them? A new policy brief from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., finds that about 65 percent of eligible people in the United States received food stamp benefits in 2005. The brief also notes that 57 percent of the eligible working poor—people who qualify for food stamps and live in households in which someone earns income from a job—participated in the program. Participation rates varied widely from state to state for both groups.

During fiscal year 2007, the program served 26 million people in an average month at a total annual cost of over $30 billion in benefits. Of those 26 million, over 10 million—41 percent—lived in households that had income from earnings, up from 30 percent of all food stamp recipients in 1996, the year in which the federal government began to place more emphasis on work for recipients of public assistance.

The Food Stamp Program is the largest of the domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. It is a central component of American policy to alleviate hunger and poverty. Its participation rate—the percentage of eligible people who actually participate in the program—has been a widely used standard for assessing how well the program meets its goals.

“Reaching Those in Need: State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2005,” by Karen E. Cunnyngham, Laura A. Castner, and Allen L. Schirm, was prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. It is available at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/redirect_pubsdb.asp?strSite=pdfs/fns05rates.pdf. Call Publications at (609) 275-2350 for printed copies.

Mathematica, a nonpartisan firm, conducts policy research and surveys for federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector clients. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, Mass., has conducted some of the most important studies of nutrition, early childhood, health care, welfare, education, and employment policies and programs in the U.S. Mathematica strives to improve public well-being by bringing the highest standards of quality, objectivity, and excellence to bear on the provision of information collection and analysis to its clients.

-####-

Back to Top