11.3% of United States Currently Receiving Food Stamps

The USDA's (United States Department of Agriculture) Food and Nutrition Service division recently released some fairly startling information about the number of Americans who are currently receiving some sort of food stamp assistance.

According to their figures, 35,122,123 Americans received some sort of food stamp assistance in June of 2009.

This is up significantly from May of 2009, when 34.4 million Americans took part in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

The difference YoY (Year over Year) is particularly stunning, as nearly 7 million more Americans are receiving some sort of food stamp assistance now than in June of 2008.

The state with the most people who are receiving this form of assistance? Texas, which had nearly 3 million people participating in the SNAP program as of June 2009. This is slightly ahead of California, which had a total of 2.8 million.

The state with the biggest percentage increase over last year? That would be Utah, which has seen a 46.3% jump in the number of people who are receiving food stamp assistance.

Overall, the number of people participating in the SNAP program is up 22.4% from last year (35.1 million vs 28.7 million).

The total population of the United States is currently around 307 million people, which means that a full 11.3% of the population is currently receiving food stamp assistance.

Source: USDA.gov - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Number of Persons Participating