{"id":7965,"date":"2025-11-14T10:57:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:57:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-11-19T12:02:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T17:02:18","slug":"what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/11\/14\/what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"What the data says about food stamps in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A sign in the window of a Miami grocery store shows it accepts payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even before large pieces of the federal government shut down in October 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program<\/a>, or SNAP \u2013 sometimes called the food stamp program \u2013 was in for some big changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tax, spending and policy bill<\/a> passed by Congress earlier this year expanded work requirements for SNAP, tightened eligibility rules, imposed new cost-sharing obligations on states and made other changes to the program. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the changes will reduce federal spending on SNAP by $186.7 billion over the next decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the 43-day shutdown created further challenges for the program, which helps nearly 42 million Americans put food on the table. While October benefits were paid in full and on time, November\u2019s payments got caught up in a tangle of lawsuits, conflicting court rulings and short-term, state-level fixes. The law reopening the government<\/a> funds SNAP through September 2026, the end of the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a closer look at the food stamp program, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (whose Food and Nutrition Service administers SNAP), the Census Bureau and other sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n