Food Stamp Usage Continues to Soar

According to the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), over 40.8 million Americans used food stamps in May of 2010.

Seems really high, right? Well, according to the White House, this number should continue to trend higher into 2011, as The White House currently estimates that an average of 43 million+ people will receive food stamps in 2011.

Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has predictably soared since the beginning of the "Great Recession" in December of 2007.

In December of 2007, 27,561,755 Americans received food stamps. The average per person monthly benefit worked out to around $101.20.

In May of 2010, 40,801,392 Americans received food stamps, with the average per person monthly benefit working out to nearly $134.

The total cost of the program in May of 2010? $5.46 billion.

Food stamp usage in the country has increased on a monthly basis for the past 18 months straight. The last time that the number of people receiving food stamps actually dropped was in October of 2008.

With the White House predicting that food stamp usage will increase to over 43 million people in 2011, it doesn't appear as though the string of consecutive increases will be broken anytime soon.

Just another bunch of statistics that should leave you feeling pretty bummed about the current state of the US economy.






Source: USDA.gov - SNAP Monthly Figures

Source: Boston.com - Food Stamp Use Hit Record 40.8m in May

Filed under: The Economic Meltdown