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 (FY) 2012 and in the 

2 previous fiscal years. SNAP eligibility criteria 

include, but are not limited to, income guidelines 

and either U.S. citizenship or legal immigrant 

status with, for most, at least 5 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. 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 83 percent in FY 2012 

(Eslami, 2014). The participation rate for eligible 

working poor individuals was significantly lower 

statistically, at 72 percent. 

The participation rates presented here use SNAP 

administrative data to estimate the number of 

participants in each State and Census Bureau 

survey data to estimate the number of eligible 

individuals. Because the rates are comprised of 

two different data sources and the estimates of 

eligibles are based on fairly small samples of 

households, there is substantial uncertainty 

associated with estimates for some States. 

Findings 

SNAP participation rate estimates for all 

eligible persons varied widely from State to 

State in FY 2012. State participation rates ranged 

from a low of 56 percent to a high of 100 percent. 

Twenty-two States had rates that were 

significantly higher than the national rate, and 15 

States had rates that were significantly lower. 

Some States had consistently high participation 

rate estimates relative to other States. In each 

year from 2010 to 2012, the District of Columbia, 

Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, 

and Washington had significantly higher 

participation rates than two-thirds of the States. 

Some States had consistently low participation 

rate estimates 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 rate estimates for the working 

poor also varied widely across States. Twentytwo States had rates for the working poor that 

were significantly higher than the national rate for 

the working poor, and seven 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 

REACHING THOSE IN NEED: ESTIMATES OF STATE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE 

PROGRAM PARTICIPATION RATES IN 2012—SUMMARY

Food and Nutrition Service February 2015 
Page 2 

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. 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 (Eslami, 2014). 

For More Information 

Cunnyngham, Karen (2015). Reaching Those in 

Need: Estimates of State Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program Participation Rates in 2012. 

Prepared by Mathematica Policy Research for the 

USDA Food and Nutrition Service (available 

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

Eslami, Esa (2014). Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program Participation Rates: Fiscal 

Year 2012. Prepared by Mathematica Policy 

Research for the USDA Food and Nutrition 

Service (available online at 

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

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