-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email 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.
” This was true across the majority of the country, though in counties with the largest gaps — New York County, N.Y.; Leelanau County, Mich.
; Teton County, Idaho; and Dukes County and Nantucket County, Mass. — there is a staggering 70% disparity between SNAP benefits and meal costs. “Food insecurity increased for the second straight year in 2023 after inflation rates remained higher than average and household budgets stayed tight,” Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute said in an emailed statement.
“For many families, SNAP provides them with the support they need to keep food on the table. She continued: “Our research shows SNAP benefits did not cover the cost of a meal in 98% of counties in 2023. Wit.
