According to a new analysis conducted by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C-based think tank specializing in economic and social policy research, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits did not cover the cost of a modestly-priced meal in 98% of United States counties last year.
This analysis, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, included data from 2023 and found the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual cost-of-living adjustment had little effect on the adequacy of SNAP benefits that year; researchers also discovered that in the last quarter of 2023 a “19% shortfall existed between the $3.37 cost of a moderately priced meal and SNAP’s average maximum benefit.”
