Food assistance reaches millions of people through grocery benefits, nutrition programs, school meals, and community food providers. In fiscal year 2024, SNAP averaged 41.7 million monthly participants, WIC averaged 6.7 million, and four major child nutrition programs served billions of meals. The statistics below show the scale of participation, who uses these programs, and how assistance intersects with food insecurity and food spending.
Contents
- Latest participation at a glance
- SNAP participation, reach, and benefits
- WIC participation by women, infants, and children
- School, summer, and care meals
- Food assistance among food-insecure households
- Community food assistance and household characteristics
- Food spending and combined program use
Latest participation at a glance
The latest broad federal program totals in the USDA Economic Research Service’s Food Assistance Data & Collaborative Research Programs charts describe fiscal year 2024. These measures are not all expressed in the same unit: SNAP and WIC are monthly participant averages, while child nutrition figures count meals, snacks, or half-pints served.
| Program | FY 2024 participation or service volume | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| SNAP | 41.7 million | Average monthly participants |
| WIC | 6.7 million | Average monthly participants |
| National School Lunch Program | 4.8 billion | Lunches |
| School Breakfast Program | 2.5 billion | Breakfasts |
| Child and Adult Care Food Program | 1.7 billion | Meals |
| Summer Food Service Program | 159.2 million | Meals and snacks |
| Special Milk Program | 17.6 million | Half-pints |
| Commodity Supplemental Food Program | 716,025 | Average monthly participants |
These figures provide a useful scale comparison, but a meal count should not be read as a count of unique people. A child may receive many school meals during a year, while a monthly participant average describes a recurring enrollment or benefit measure.
SNAP participation, reach, and benefits
SNAP was the largest program in the participation figures supplied for this comparison. According to the USDA Economic Research Service’s SNAP participation varied across States in fiscal year 2023, SNAP averaged 42.1 million participants per month in the 50 states and Washington, DC, during FY 2023. That represented 12.6% of the population in those areas.
Participation varied substantially by state. New Mexico had the highest reported share, at 23.1% of residents, while Utah had the lowest, at 4.6%. Thirty-four states had participation shares between 8% and 16%. These are geographic participation shares for FY 2023, not national estimates for every U.S. jurisdiction.
SNAP participation also increased between FY 2022 and FY 2023. The USDA Economic Research Service’s The Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape: Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report reports a rise of 2.3%, from 41.2 million monthly participants in FY 2022 to 42.1 million in FY 2023.
The same annual report gives context on benefit levels and program spending. The average SNAP benefit was $211.93 per person per month in FY 2023, and SNAP spending totaled $112.8 billion. A benefit average describes the per-person monthly amount across the program; it is not a household budget or a guaranteed monthly amount for every participant.
WIC participation by women, infants, and children
WIC serves pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children, so its participation profile differs from SNAP’s broader household measure. In FY 2024, WIC averaged 6.70 million participants per month, up 2% from 6.58 million in FY 2023, according to the USDA Economic Research Service’s Total WIC participation increased for a third year in FY 2024.
Children made up 55.3% of WIC participants in FY 2024. Women represented 22.6%, and infants represented 22.2%. From FY 2023 to FY 2024, participation increased 2% for women, 2% for children, and 1% for infants.
The FY 2023 participant breakdown in the USDA Economic Research Service’s annual report was 1.49 million women, 1.47 million infants, and 3.62 million children per month on average. WIC food cost averaged $55.95 per participant per month in FY 2023, while total WIC spending was $6.60 billion, 14.9% above FY 2022.
Participation totals do not show the entire eligible population. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s WIC Eligibility and Coverage Rates, 2023 estimates that WIC reached 56.1% of eligible people in calendar year 2023. Coverage was 82.3% for eligible infants, 47.9% for eligible children, and 36.4% for eligible women.
School, summer, and care meals
Meal-based programs operate through schools, child-care settings, and summer sites. In FY 2024, the National School Lunch Program served 4.8 billion lunches and spent $17.711 billion. The School Breakfast Program served 2.5 billion breakfasts and spent $5.7028 billion. Both figures come from the USDA Economic Research Service’s costs and participation charts.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program served 1.7 billion meals and spent $4.0724 billion in FY 2024. The Summer Food Service Program served 159.2 million meals and snacks and spent $677.1 million. The Special Milk Program served 17.6 million half-pints, a unit that measures servings rather than people.
For a year-over-year view, the USDA Economic Research Service’s FY 2023 annual report reports that NSLP, SBP, CACFP, and SFSP together served 8.8 billion meals in FY 2023. The four programs served 7.6% fewer meals than in FY 2022, when the combined total was 9.6 billion. Combined spending was $26.9 billion in FY 2023, down 20.9% from FY 2022.
| Child nutrition measure | FY 2023 | Change or context |
|---|---|---|
| Meals served by NSLP, SBP, CACFP, and SFSP | 8.8 billion | 7.6% below FY 2022 |
| Prior-year combined meals | 9.6 billion | FY 2022 |
| Combined spending | $26.9 billion | 20.9% below FY 2022 |
Food assistance among food-insecure households
Participation and food insecurity can occur at the same time. The USDA Economic Research Service’s Household Food Security in the United States in 2023 reports that, among households below 130% of the poverty line, 51.9% of SNAP recipients were food insecure in 2023 and 22.4% had very low food security.
Duration of SNAP receipt was associated with different reported food-security rates within this low-income group. Among households receiving SNAP for all 12 months, 49.6% were food insecure and 20.0% had very low food security. Among households receiving SNAP for 1 to 11 months, the corresponding shares were 59.5% and 30.4%. Among households that did not receive SNAP in the previous 12 months, 26.5% were food insecure and 10.3% had very low food security.
Other program participants also reported food insecurity. Among low-income households with school-age children receiving free or reduced-price school lunch, 43.7% were food insecure and 15.3% had very low food security in 2023. Among low-income households with children under age 5 receiving WIC, the figures were 37.0% and 14.0%.
During the 30 days before the December 2023 survey, 42.3% of food-insecure households participated in SNAP and 43.5% of households with very low food security did so. Free or reduced-price school lunch reached 28.9% of food-insecure households and 24.8% of households with very low food security. WIC reached 7.0% and 6.4%, respectively. Overall, 58.1% of food-insecure households participated in at least one of SNAP, free or reduced-price school lunch, or WIC during that 30-day period.
Community food assistance and household characteristics
Federal programs are only part of the food assistance landscape. The USDA Economic Research Service’s Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United States in 2023 reports that 9.315 million U.S. households received free groceries in 2023, equal to 7.1% of households. Another 2.962 million households, or 2.3%, received a free meal from a charitable organization.
Children were present in 6.784 million households receiving free groceries, and 9.5% of children in households were covered by that measure. Receipt also differed by household structure, race and ethnicity of the reference person, poverty status, and geography.
| Household characteristic | Free-grocery receipt in 2023 |
|---|---|
| Woman-headed household, no spouse | 17.5% |
| Married-couple family | 5.0% |
| Non-Hispanic Black reference person | 12.8% |
| Non-Hispanic White reference person | 5.1% |
| Below the poverty line | 27.0% |
| At 185% of poverty or above | 2.8% |
| Outside metropolitan areas | 10.0% |
| Inside metropolitan areas | 6.6% |
Among low-income households, 58.1% of those receiving free groceries were food insecure, compared with 26.6% of those not receiving free groceries. For free meals, 52.7% of recipient households were food insecure, compared with 32.1% of nonrecipient households. These comparisons describe household conditions reported in 2023; they do not establish that receiving community food assistance caused or resolved food insecurity.
Food spending and combined program use
Food spending measures help show how household resources compared with the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan benchmark. Among households below 130% of the poverty line, median weekly food spending in 2023 was 0.91 times the December 2023 Thrifty Food Plan cost for SNAP recipients and 0.90 times for nonrecipients.
Among low-income households with school-age children, median weekly food spending was 0.85 times the Thrifty Food Plan cost for free or reduced-price school-lunch recipients and 0.79 times for nonrecipients. Among low-income households with children under age 5, the ratio was 0.88 for both WIC recipients and nonrecipients. Among low-income households, the ratio was 0.84 for free-grocery recipients and 0.96 for nonrecipients.
Assistance programs also overlap with community food support. Among low-income households receiving SNAP in the previous 30 days, 34.9% received free groceries and 12.0% received a free meal in 2023. Among those receiving free or reduced-price school lunch, 26.3% received free groceries and 5.6% received a free meal. Among WIC recipients, 24.8% received free groceries and 6.9% received a free meal.
Across low-income households participating in at least one of SNAP, free or reduced-price school lunch, or WIC, 31.4% received free groceries and 9.7% received a free meal. These figures describe combined use during the previous 30 days and help distinguish program participation from exclusive use of a single source of food assistance.