SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides short-term financial support to individuals and families furthest from economic opportunity who struggle to afford food.
As the nation’s largest nutrition program, SNAP helps roughly 43 million people access foods and beverages to support a healthy diet. SNAP is extremely effective at increasing food security, improving children’s health and academic performance, supporting economic growth, and lifting people out of poverty.
In 2021, SNAP received the largest permanent benefits boost in its history. For the average SNAP participant, it will mean an extra $36 per month, a roughly 27 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels. The increase came through updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, a tool used to calculate SNAP benefits based on food costs, dietary guidance, and nutrition content. This boost will help ensure millions of people have enough in benefits to feed their families through the entire month, further combating food insecurity.
Hunger remains a pressing issue for millions of people living in the United States, furthering racial and ethnic health disparities by overwhelmingly impacting communities of color and those with low incomes. No one should be forced to make impossible choices between buying food, paying the rent, and purchasing medications. There is so much more to do to strengthen and modernize our nutrition assistance programs and policies and we must continue to take an evidence-based approach to addressing food insecurity across the United States.
