Background 

This report – part of an annual series – presents 

estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by 

State, who participated in the Supplemental 

Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during an 

average month in fiscal year 2011 and in the 2 

previous fiscal years. SNAP eligibility criteria 

include, but are not limited to, income guidelines 

and either United States citizenship or legal 

immigrant status with, for most, at least five years’ 

residency. 

This report also presents estimates of State 

participation rates for eligible “working poor” 

individuals (persons in households with earnings) 

over the same period. Although SNAP provides 

an important support for working families, the 

working poor have participated for a number of 

years at rates that are substantially below those for 

all eligible persons. The addition of State-by-State 

information on participation among the working 

poor enables a comparison of these rates to the 

overall participation rates. 

Nationally, the SNAP participation rate among all 

eligible persons was 79 percent in fiscal year 2011 

(Eslami and Cunnyngham, 2013). The 

participation rate for eligible working poor 

individuals was significantly lower statistically, at 

67 percent. 

Findings 

 SNAP participation rates for all eligible 

persons varied widely from State to State in 

fiscal year 2011. State participation rates ranged 

from a low of 57 percent to a high of 100 percent. 

Twenty-six States had rates that were significantly 

higher than the national rate, and 12 States had 

rates that were significantly lower. 

 Some States had consistently high 

participation rates relative to other States. In 

each year from 2009 to 2011, the District of 

Columbia, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, 

Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington had 

significantly higher participation rates than twothirds of the States. 

 Some States had consistently low 

participation rates relative to other States. 

California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, New Jersey, 

Nevada, Texas, and Wyoming had significantly 

lower rates than two-thirds of the States in all 3 

fiscal years. 

 Participation rates for the working poor also 

varied widely across States. Twenty-one States 

had rates for the working poor that were 

significantly higher than the national rate for the 

working poor, and 10 States had rates that were 

significantly lower. 

Methodological Notes 

The State participation rate estimates are derived 

using a statistical approach known as shrinkage 

estimation, developed to improve precision when 

sample sizes are small. Data come from the 

Current Population Survey, American Community 

Survey, and administrative records. While 

shrinkage estimates are substantially more precise 

than direct sample estimates, the estimated 

participation rates are still based on fairly small 

samples of households in many States, and the 

REACHING THOSE IN NEED: STATE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

PARTICIPATION RATES IN 2011—SUMMARY

Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support February 2014 
Page 2 

uncertainty associated with these estimates is 

substantial. Users of these data should take the 

estimated confidence intervals into account when 

interpreting differences between States, within a 

State over time, and between estimates for all 

eligibles and the working poor. 

The number of eligible persons in California is 

adjusted to reflect the fact that about 1.3 million 

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients 

receive a small cash benefit for food assistance 

from the State and are not eligible to receive 

SNAP benefits. In the absence of this exclusion, 

about half of this number of SSI recipients would 

be eligible for SNAP under current program rules. 

Periodically, improvements are made in the 

methods for estimating the direct sample estimates 

of SNAP-eligible persons that are used in the 

shrinkage estimation. For this reason, the 

participation rates cited in this report are not 

directly comparable to those presented in prior 

year reports because of some improvements to the 

methodology, which are described in Eslami and 

Cunnyngham (2013). 

For More Information 

Cunnyngham, Karen (2014). Reaching Those in 

Need: State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

Program Participation Rates in 2011. Prepared 

by Mathematica Policy Research for the USDA 

Food and Nutrition Service (available online at 

www.fns.usda.gov/research-and-analysis). 

Eslami, Esa, and Karen Cunnyngham (2014). 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 

Participation Rates: Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011.

Prepared by Mathematica Policy Research for the 

USDA Food and Nutrition Service (available 

online at www.fns.usda.gov/research-andanalysis). 

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