Tool shows 57% of eligible people received taxpayer subsidized food

“In every state, how many people and families are eligible for a whole bunch of different programs and of those who are eligible, what portion of them are receiving those benefits,” Urban Institute Senior Fellow Linda Giannarelli told The States by The Center Square. “It's the first time that all this kind of information has been all together in one place across a bunch of different programs and for every single state.”

Data from 2023 gathered by the institute was across several programs; Public and subsidized housing assistance, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and child care subsidies funded by the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) – along with the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

“The dollar amounts differ for all the different programs,” Giannarelli said. “The dollar amounts also differ for what families can receive in benefits.”

Nationally, in 2023, institute analysis shows 69.1 million people were eligible for SNAP. The number of eligible people was 21.2% of the U.S. population. Fifty-seven percent of eligible people received assistance, while 29.4 million people were eligible for SNAP but did not receive it, a category also referred to as the “participation gap.”

“In some cases people aren't aware that the program exists. In other cases, they may be aware that the program exists, but they may not think that they are low income enough. They might think, ‘well, that's for people who are much worse off than I am.’ And so they might not think to apply for the benefits,” Giannarelli said. “There's a very large amount of funds that are unclaimed or unpaid that families and individuals are eligible for that they're not receiving.”  

Other findings the institute highlighted include 9.1 million people in California eligible for SNAP in 2023, and 54.2% of eligible people received benefits. In New York, the Urban League found 64.9% of eligible people receiving benefits from SNAP in 2023. 

In Arizona, 207,000 young children (infants through age four) were eligible for WIC, and 57.5% of eligible young children received the benefits.

And, in Florida, 915,000 households were eligible for public and subsidized housing, and 19.4% of eligible households received benefits.

Whether the data is a good or bad sign is a good question, Giannarelli said. 

“If the goals of the programs are to support families who need this kind of help, then I think we have to think about whether the programs are meeting those goals,” she said. “And if large numbers of families who are eligible for the programs are not receiving the help, now of course some of them may not want to apply for the program, may fully know, may choose not to apply for the program, but if that's not the reason, if people are being deterred for other reasons, if funds are running out, then I think we have to think about whether the programs are meeting their intended goals.”