SNAP Caseload and Spending

How This Program Helps

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps people buy food and meet basic nutrition needs. It supports households with limited income so they can afford groceries.

The program includes two groups of households.

Public assistance (PA) households include those where all members receive or may receive income from programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income. These households may also include members receiving transitional support payments.

Non-public assistance (NPA) households include those where at least one member does not receive income from these programs and no one in the household receives transitional support payments.

In many cases, applying for cash assistance or general relief also counts as applying for food assistance.