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How Were Extra SNAP Benefits Spent? Accessible Data

Figure 1: SNAP Participation and Benefit Amount per Household

Panel A: Participation
Million

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Date Participation
01/01/2018 41.026015
02/01/2018 40.431613
03/01/2018 40.395888
04/01/2018 39.968661
05/01/2018 39.896505
06/01/2018 39.78229
07/01/2018 39.546157
08/01/2018 39.402298
09/01/2018 39.159849
10/01/2018 39.575279
11/01/2018 39.129424
12/01/2018 38.655988
01/01/2019 40.627707
02/01/2019 7.422273
03/01/2019 37.664927
04/01/2019 37.422372
05/01/2019 37.381135
06/01/2019 37.532817
07/01/2019 37.602856
08/01/2019 37.777171
09/01/2019 37.637717
10/01/2019 37.652952
11/01/2019 37.464569
12/01/2019 37.24384
01/01/2020 37.100836
02/01/2020 36.867839
03/01/2020 37.208099
04/01/2020 40.944023
05/01/2020 42.663502
06/01/2020 42.908882
07/01/2020 42.589096
08/01/2020 42.557584
09/01/2020 43.032115
10/01/2020 42.077533
11/01/2020 41.498329
12/01/2020 41.336928
01/01/2021 42.125157
02/01/2021 42.269905
03/01/2021 41.953645
04/01/2021 41.803523
05/01/2021 41.486912
06/01/2021 41.155613
07/01/2021 41.946419
08/01/2021 40.795233
09/01/2021 40.795346
10/01/2021 41.198773
11/01/2021 41.211591
12/01/2021 41.305936
01/01/2022 41.228496
02/01/2022 41.181192
03/01/2022 41.377328
04/01/2022 41.212994
05/01/2022 41.012898
06/01/2022 40.907769
07/01/2022 41.115521
08/01/2022 41.12376
09/01/2022 41.622754
10/01/2022 42.33675
11/01/2022 42.400812
12/01/2022 42.694515
01/01/2023 42.765476
02/01/2023 42.603929
03/01/2023 42.430208
04/01/2023 41.91381
05/01/2023 41.995368
06/01/2023 41.927034
07/01/2023 41.303331
08/01/2023 42.006955
09/01/2023 41.651427
10/01/2023 41.694229
11/01/2023 41.464728
12/01/2023 41.399764
01/01/2024 41.280245
02/01/2024 41.23407699
03/01/2024 41.54682708
04/01/2024 41.59302181

Panel B: Benefit per Household
$

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Date Cost per Person
01/01/2018 121.8947
02/01/2018 121.524
03/01/2018 122.3904
04/01/2018 121.7083
05/01/2018 121.9055
06/01/2018 121.9444
07/01/2018 121.8333
08/01/2018 122.1949
09/01/2018 123.2783
10/01/2018 123.9289
11/01/2018 122.641
12/01/2018 122.5085
01/01/2019 216.8175
02/01/2019 83.447
03/01/2019 118.5865
04/01/2019 120.8078
05/01/2019 121.549
06/01/2019 121.2864
07/01/2019 121.2921
08/01/2019 121.0959
09/01/2019 120.5208
10/01/2019 122.2618
11/01/2019 121.4363
12/01/2019 121.2076
01/01/2020 120.164
02/01/2020 121.1294
03/01/2020 141.521
04/01/2020 187.4222
05/01/2020 180.8721
06/01/2020 179.9307
07/01/2020 181.041
08/01/2020 180.786
09/01/2020 180.8975
10/01/2020 186.9792
11/01/2020 187.8029
12/01/2020 188.1014
01/01/2021 206.0166
02/01/2021 214.7442
03/01/2021 219.2111
04/01/2021 230.4306
05/01/2021 246.6321
06/01/2021 237.548
07/01/2021 230.3686
08/01/2021 224.6245
09/01/2021 222.4383
10/01/2021 241.6717
11/01/2021 238.3201
12/01/2021 238.6982
01/01/2022 234.2537
02/01/2022 234.0475
03/01/2022 230.1828
04/01/2022 233.6106
05/01/2022 228.0122
06/01/2022 224.4758
07/01/2022 226.1923
08/01/2022 221.9652
09/01/2022 214.4201
10/01/2022 253.9693
11/01/2022 259.5048
12/01/2022 259.2039
01/01/2023 253.9271
02/01/2023 245.8686
03/01/2023 205.5104
04/01/2023 176.9501
05/01/2023 174.2592
06/01/2023 177.0729
07/01/2023 173.0616
08/01/2023 178.6361
09/01/2023 176.5809
10/01/2023 188.1191
11/01/2023 188.53
12/01/2023 189.7005
01/01/2024 187.5997
02/01/2024 183.1526
03/01/2024 185.5526
04/01/2024 181.4362

Note: Panel A shows SNAP benefits for participating persons, and panel B shows the benefit amount per household. Data are monthly from January 2019 to April 2024 and not adjusted for inflation. The grey dashed vertical line marks the drop in benefits in February 2019 due to the government shutdown. The blue dotted vertical line marks March 2020 when emergency allotments started. The dark orange long dashed line marks February 2023 when emergency allotments came to an end in all states.

Source: https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap.

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Figure 2: Benefits Trips and Spending

Panel A: SNAP vs. Total Trips (% of Total)
%

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Date SNAP vs. Total Trips (% of Total)
01/01/2019 3.85
02/01/2019 2.36
03/01/2019 2.80
04/01/2019 2.79
05/01/2019 2.82
06/01/2019 2.90
07/01/2019 2.93
08/01/2019 2.94
09/01/2019 3.05
10/01/2019 3.01
11/01/2019 2.99
12/01/2019 3.09
01/01/2020 3.22
02/01/2020 3.27
03/01/2020 3.03
04/01/2020 4.62
05/01/2020 5.35
06/01/2020 6.01
07/01/2020 5.95
08/01/2020 5.71
09/01/2020 5.68
10/01/2020 5.71
11/01/2020 5.85
12/01/2020 5.55
01/01/2021 5.59
02/01/2021 6.18
03/01/2021 5.97
04/01/2021 5.89
05/01/2021 6.54
06/01/2021 6.87
07/01/2021 7.05
08/01/2021 7.26
09/01/2021 7.09
10/01/2021 7.03
11/01/2021 7.25
12/01/2021 7.04
01/01/2022 7.09
02/01/2022 6.69
03/01/2022 6.51
04/01/2022 6.12
05/01/2022 6.02
06/01/2022 5.98
07/01/2022 5.56
08/01/2022 5.98
09/01/2022 6.15
10/01/2022 6.43
11/01/2022 6.69
12/01/2022 6.62
01/01/2023 6.86
02/01/2023 6.49
03/01/2023 5.58
04/01/2023 5.19

Panel B: Spending per SNAP Trips
$

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Date Spending per SNAP Trips
01/01/2019 30.33
02/01/2019 25.74
03/01/2019 28.72
04/01/2019 28.39
05/01/2019 27.28
06/01/2019 27.65
07/01/2019 27.09
08/01/2019 27.18
09/01/2019 26.92
10/01/2019 27.60
11/01/2019 28.34
12/01/2019 28.03
01/01/2020 28.37
02/01/2020 28.40
03/01/2020 31.64
04/01/2020 37.07
05/01/2020 35.09
06/01/2020 34.19
07/01/2020 33.59
08/01/2020 32.64
09/01/2020 32.19
10/01/2020 31.86
11/01/2020 32.41
12/01/2020 32.86
01/01/2021 33.76
02/01/2021 34.83
03/01/2021 34.06
04/01/2021 33.83
05/01/2021 35.29
06/01/2021 35.41
07/01/2021 35.10
08/01/2021 35.58
09/01/2021 34.91
10/01/2021 35.69
11/01/2021 35.72
12/01/2021 36.63
01/01/2022 37.61
02/01/2022 36.94
03/01/2022 35.74
04/01/2022 34.85
05/01/2022 34.90
06/01/2022 35.07
07/01/2022 35.12
08/01/2022 35.42
09/01/2022 35.41
10/01/2022 36.65
11/01/2022 37.03
12/01/2022 37.92
01/01/2023 36.63
02/01/2023 35.99
03/01/2023 34.15
04/01/2023 32.92

Note: Panel A shows monthly benefits trips as a share of total trips. Panel B shows spending per benefit trip. Data are monthly from January 2019 to April 2023 and are not adjusted for inflation. The grey dashed vertical line marks the drop in benefits in February 2019 due to the government shutdown. The blue dotted vertical line marks March 2020 when emergency allotments started. The dark orange long dashed line marks February 2023 emergency allotments came to an end in all states. Note that the aggregated benefits trips and spending data also contain trips that only involve WIC benefits, which is the SNAP program for Women, Infants, and Children. I do not use `WIC-only' trips in my final data set, as `WIC-only' trips are very rare in the data.

Source: Numerator. Some aggregated data can be found at https://www.numerator.com/snap-trip-tracker/

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Figure 3: Food-at-home spending before and after March 2020

Estimate and 95% Confidence Interval

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Date Coefficient (line with circles) Upper Bound (dashed) Lower Bound (dashed)
03/01/2019 -31.9 26.2 -90.0
04/01/2019 -38.7 16.1 -93.5
05/01/2019 -36.7 13.2 -86.7
06/01/2019 -36.2 10.0 -82.4
07/01/2019 -5.5 37.0 -48.0
08/01/2019 -11.5 25.0 -48.0
09/01/2019 -18.3 14.3 -50.9
10/01/2019 22.6 51.1 -5.9
11/01/2019 30.0 56.4 3.6
12/01/2019 15.2 38.1 -7.7
01/01/2020 16.6 36.6 -3.3
02/01/2020 0.0 0.0 0.0
03/01/2020 106.4 130.7 82.1
04/01/2020 111.5 140.1 82.9
05/01/2020 148.5 180.3 116.8
06/01/2020 124.8 162.6 86.9
07/01/2020 148.7 188.3 109.1
08/01/2020 120.9 163.8 78.0
09/01/2020 102.2 147.7 56.7
10/01/2020 133.3 180.8 85.8
11/01/2020 117.8 167.4 68.2
12/01/2020 171.1 229.4 112.7
01/01/2021 124.6 187.5 61.7
02/01/2021 131.9 199.1 64.6
03/01/2021 205.8 277.5 134.1
04/01/2021 157.7 232.5 82.8
05/01/2021 253.8 335.7 171.8
06/01/2021 245.6 332.3 158.8
07/01/2021 277.4 371.3 183.5
08/01/2021 271.4 369.4 173.4
09/01/2021 262.3 361.5 163.1
10/01/2021 326.0 434.5 217.6
11/01/2021 318.6 429.5 207.8
12/01/2021 281.6 397.2 165.9
01/01/2022 230.6 347.9 113.4
02/01/2022 199.7 321.5 77.8
03/01/2022 231.9 360.3 103.6
04/01/2022 277.3 413.0 141.7
05/01/2022 233.5 370.5 96.4
06/01/2022 255.1 400.1 110.2
07/01/2022 255.7 404.6 106.7
08/01/2022 268.3 422.2 114.3
09/01/2022 267.5 423.1 112.0
10/01/2022 349.9 509.6 190.2
11/01/2022 309.2 472.0 146.5
12/01/2022 328.5 494.8 162.2
01/01/2023 274.3 448.0 100.5
02/01/2023 250.2 428.0 72.4

Note: The line with the circles represents the coefficients from a regression of food-at-home spending on a vector of lead and lagged indicators for the month relative to the start of emergency allotments, with February 2020 normalized to 0. The coefficients represent dollar values. The dashed vertical line indicates the start of emergency allotments in March 2020. The shaded area represents the 95% confidence interval. Standard errors are clustered by household. Each regression includes household fixed effects; the calendar month and state interaction term; as well as fixed effects for age, income bin, employment status, household size, education group, marital status, children between the ages of 0-5, 6-12 and 13-17, gender, and ethnicity.

Source: Author’s calculations.

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Figure 4: Change in food-at-home spending

Estimate and 95% Confidence Interval

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Date Coefficient (line with circles) Upper Bound (darker shade, solid) Lower Bound (darker shade, solid) Lower bound (lighter shade, dashed) Upper bound (lighter shade, dashed)
03/01/2019 4.95 31.04 -21.14 -21.14 31.04
04/01/2019 17.62 43.80 -8.57 -8.57 43.80
05/01/2019 -16.44 8.17 -41.05 -41.05 8.17
06/01/2019 -13.52 11.23 -38.27 -38.27 11.23
07/01/2019 -6.79 20.28 -33.86 -33.86 20.28
08/01/2019 -19.19 3.23 -41.61 -41.61 3.23
09/01/2019 -7.71 16.24 -31.66 -31.66 16.24
10/01/2019 -4.14 17.98 -26.26 -26.26 17.98
11/01/2019 10.23 33.47 -13.01 -13.01 33.47
12/01/2019 -20.99 1.30 -43.27 -43.27 1.30
01/01/2020 -0.43 20.02 -20.88 -20.88 20.02
02/01/2020 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
03/01/2020 -29.10 -3.79 -54.40 -46.90 -2.72
04/01/2020 12.80 41.03 -15.43 -11.94 40.45
05/01/2020 38.60 69.02 8.18 8.24 66.81
06/01/2020 56.59 90.44 22.74 25.74 92.97
07/01/2020 45.22 78.28 12.17 20.22 85.53
08/01/2020 45.47 77.96 12.97 14.66 82.03
09/01/2020 44.53 75.98 13.08 15.06 81.19
10/01/2020 45.17 76.20 14.14 11.78 83.74
11/01/2020 28.27 58.50 -1.96 -2.69 69.95
12/01/2020 62.78 98.09 27.46 31.56 111.28
01/01/2021 49.04 82.77 15.31 12.23 95.03
02/01/2021 60.31 95.13 25.49 13.70 106.04
03/01/2021 78.28 114.24 42.32 38.58 134.70
04/01/2021 71.80 109.08 34.52 22.12 122.94
05/01/2021 116.36 159.02 73.70 58.22 170.70
06/01/2021 135.40 178.80 91.99 75.36 190.78
07/01/2021 133.17 179.01 87.33 73.93 194.08
08/01/2021 139.24 182.99 95.49 76.04 198.97
09/01/2021 154.69 199.73 109.65 93.46 220.66
10/01/2021 164.41 215.76 113.07 101.75 240.71
11/01/2021 177.56 227.65 127.48 113.77 249.34
12/01/2021 139.76 189.35 90.17 73.55 216.17
01/01/2022 126.52 173.30 79.73 54.81 198.52
02/01/2022 125.33 170.32 80.34 56.12 199.22
03/01/2022 113.51 161.04 65.97 45.37 193.14
04/01/2022 139.00 189.31 88.70 65.82 218.02
05/01/2022 123.73 170.85 76.62 54.49 206.85
06/01/2022 140.77 193.91 87.63 66.28 230.18
07/01/2022 118.21 167.73 68.69 36.06 198.98
08/01/2022 134.98 186.06 83.89 56.64 223.52
09/01/2022 149.64 202.39 96.89 70.95 239.65
10/01/2022 189.44 244.84 134.04 108.40 289.08
11/01/2022 172.90 227.62 118.17 88.35 274.66
12/01/2022 141.19 197.54 84.85 55.60 246.92
01/01/2023 155.64 213.22 98.06 69.14 270.82
02/01/2023 171.70 227.93 115.46 85.70 284.90

Note: The line with circles represents the coefficients from a difference-in-differences regression of food-at-home spending on a vector of lead and lagged indicators, which are 1 when SNAP recipients start receiving emergency allotments, zero otherwise, with February 2020 normalized to 0. The coefficients represent dollar values. The dashed vertical line indicates the start of emergency allotments in March 2020. The dark shades represent the 95% confidence interval. The lighter shades indicate the 95% confidence intervals estimated using Rambachan and Roth (2023)’s (https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdad018) method for the post-treatment period, showing the confidence interval of coefficients if the difference between SNAP and non-SNAP recipients' consumption remained linear even if the parallel trends assumption was violated. Standard errors are clustered by household. Each regression includes household fixed effects; the calendar month and state interaction term; as well as fixed effects for age, income bin, employment status, household size, education group, marital status, children between the ages of 0-5, 6-12 and 13-17, gender, and ethnicity.

Source: Author’s calculations.

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Last Update: March 03, 2025