Greetings—

Though the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps families purchase the food they need, the maximum benefit is rarely enough. An updated map from Urban Institute experts allows users to explore the gap between the maximum SNAP benefit and the cost of a modestly priced meal in their county.  

In 2022, the inflation adjustment to SNAP benefits improved the benefits’ adequacy, but this progress eroded almost entirely in 2023. The fiscal year 2024 cost-of-living adjustment, which took effect in October 2023, had little impact on the adequacy of SNAP benefits for 2023, merely decreasing the share of counties with inadequate benefits from 99 to 98 percent.

The researchers also found that:

Nationally, the gap between the maximum SNAP benefit and the cost of a meal remained high. The gap was $0.63 per meal (23 percent) in the first three quarters and dropped to $0.53 per meal (19 percent) in the last quarter of 2023.
At the end of 2023, SNAP benefits fell short of covering monthly food costs by $49.29 for families with zero net income. In the first three quarters of the year, SNAP benefits fell $58.59 short.
The gap between SNAP benefits and meal costs was larger in urban areas than in rural areas. By the end of 2023, urban areas had meal costs 28 percent higher, on average, than SNAP benefits. The gap was 17 percent for rural areas.
In the five counties with the largest gaps between SNAP benefits and meal costs, the gap remained above 70 percent all year.