As of May, 40.8 million Americans (nearly 19 million households) used food stamps. The number of participants, which is near an all-time high, has risen every month for a year and a half. The average household on the program gets $289 worth of food. Six million people/three million households have been added to the rolls in the past year.
National-level annual summary:
| Fiscal | PARTICIPATION | BENEFIT | AVERAGE MONTHLY BENEFIT | ||
| Year | Persons | Households | COSTS | Per Person | Per Household |
| ANNUAL SUMMARY | |||||
| FY 2009 | 33,722,293 | 15,232,105 | 50,360,147,162 | 124.45 | 275.52 |
| FY 2008 | 28,409,882 | 12,728,982 | 34,608,397,238 | 101.52 | 226.57 |
| FY 2007 | 26,468,563 | 11,789,594 | 30,373,271,078 | 95.63 | 214.69 |
Monthly data — national level:
Annual state-level data (FY 2005-2009):
Latest available month — state-level participation:
Congress is about to cut $11.9 billion from food stamp benefits that were part of the 2009 stimulus bill. The cuts, according to AP, “would cost a family of four $59 a month beginning in early 2014.”
In Illinois, the number of families receiving food stamps in a month increased 11.9 percent from a year earlier.
SSA.gov answers basic questions about the food stamp program:
- Resources (Up to what point can you still be eligible?)
The Economic Research Service told the USDA that the longer a person stays on food stamps, the more likely their body mass index (BMI) will increase [PDF]:
group of food stamp recipients for whom multiple studies show a link between food stamp receipt and elevated BMI and obesity. According to these studies, food stamp participation over a 1- or 2-year period increases the probability of a woman’s becoming obese by 2 to 5 percentage points and may lead to a 0.5-point increase in BMI, or about 3 pounds for a woman 5’4″ to 5’6″ tall.
