September 23, 2025
End Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility in SNAP and Address Benefit Cliffs
Broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an administrative function with broad implications for SNAP caseloads and expenditures. Though Congress originally established BBCE as a way to lower administrative burden and increase program efficiency, states have used it in recent decades to expand SNAP eligibility beyond statutory income eligibility limits of 130 percent of the federal poverty level and other eligibility conditions.
July 22, 2025
How Large Would SNAP Be? Simulating the Size of SNAP Based on Changes to the Unemployment Rate
Using a base year of 2000, we find that if SNAP’s caseload had varied based on the unemployment rate and population growth alone, the program would currently serve between 3 and 6 percent of Americans rather than the 13 percent of Americans it now serves. Moreover, we find that the program’s expenditures would range from $18 billion to $34 billion, less than one-third of the $109 billion currently spent on benefits.
March 26, 2024
Economic Characteristics of the Food Insecure
Consistent with intuition, we find that food-insecure households skew toward the bottom of
the income distribution. However, after adjusting for household composition and regional variation in
cost of living, we find that one-quarter of food-insecure households fall within the top three quintiles
of the income distribution and that food-insecure households spend about as much as food-secure
households do on food per week.
March 12, 2024
Why Did Food Insecurity Increase from 2019 to 2022 in the United States?
We find that neither changes in the social safety net nor underlying economic factors, such as unemployment, could explain this trend. Instead, we attribute the increase to a rise in food price inflation during this period, compounded by changes in the survey methodology for food insecurity assessment.
May 1, 2023
Promoting Mobility Through SNAP: Toward Better Health and Employment Outcomes
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is among the nation’s largest safety-net programs, helping low-income households afford food, improve nutrition, and support employment. As program expenditures continue to grow, assessing SNAP from the perspective of employment and health outcomes is crucial. We analyze administrative and survey data to document trends in employment and health outcomes for adult SNAP recipients from 1996 to 2019.