Trends in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates: Fiscal Year 2016 to Fiscal Year 2020

The participation rates for individuals and households presented in this report are estimates of the percentages of those eligible under Federal income and resource rules who chose to participate in SNAP. The benefit receipt rates indicate the amount of benefits received as a proportion of total benefits that would have been paid out if every eligible household had participated. We estimated SNAP participation rate denominators from Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) data. Because SNAP participation is underreported in survey data, we estimated rate numerators from SNAP Quality Control (QC) data. Of the 42 million individuals eligible for SNAP under Federal rules in an average month of pre-pandemic FY 2020, nearly 33 million, or 78 percent, chose to participate.