Welfare Recipients by State 2024 (2024)

FAQs

What state has the highest rate of people on welfare? ›

States with the Highest Welfare Recipients:

Based on SNAP data, California leads the pack with a staggering 1,911,000 SNAP households, followed closely by Florida (1,632,000) and Texas (1,595,000).

Using research from the Urban Institute (gathering data from 59 million people), the graph below presents the largest percentage of welfare recipients in 2019. The majority of recipients were white (43 percent), followed by Hispanic (26 percent), and Black (23 percent).

In fiscal year 2022, California had the largest number of SNAP participants of all states and the District of Columbia, with 4,627,700 people in total. New Mexico's 518,800 participants in 2022 represented 25% of the state's total population, the highest percentage of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Vermont ranks as the most generous state with the average low-income person receiving about $26,000 in benefits. This is due largely to the fact that, using my measure, Vermont has the most generous Medicaid program and Medicaid accounts for about half of all of the programs I consider.

Wyoming has the lowest number of SNAP households, with only 13,000, followed by North Dakota with 24,000. Alaska, Vermont, and South Dakota complete the list of states with the least welfare recipients, with 39,000, 41,000, and 40,000 households benefiting from SNAP, respectively.

Non-Hispanic White people accounted for 44.6% of adult SNAP recipients and 31.5% of child recipients in 2020. About 27% of both adult and child recipients were Black. Hispanic people, who can be of any race, accounted for 21.9% of adult recipients and 35.8% of child recipients.

SNAP recipients represent different races and/or ethnicities. White: about 37 percent; African American: 26 percent; Hispanic: 16 percent; Asian: 3 percent; and Native American: about 2 percent. (About 16 percent of participants are categorized as “race unknown.”) Many SNAP households have earned income.

"Social security," as used with reference to the Social Security Act in the United States also encompasses some of what we call "welfare" or "needs" or "assistance" programs.

What cities have the most welfare recipients? ›

The Food Stamp Act (P.L. 88-525) provided permanent legislative authority to the Food Stamp Program, which had been administratively implemented on a pilot basis in 1962. On August 31, 1964 it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Poverty rates were highest in the states of New Mexico (18.2%), Mississippi (17.8%), Louisiana (16.9%), Arkansas (15.9%), Kentucky (15.8%), Oklahoma (15.8%), and West Virginia (15.6%) and they were lowest in the states of New Hampshire (7.42%), Maryland (9.02%), Utah (9.13%), Hawaii (9.26%).

By the median income standard, Mississippi is poorest state in the U.S., with a household average income of $52,985. It is closely followed by West Virginia, with an average of $55,217, and Arkansas with an income rate of $56,335, as of 2022.

What percentage of the U.S. population receives welfare benefits? Approximately 21% of the U.S. population receives some form of welfare benefits, including programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and housing assistance.

19.5 percent of all persons lived in households that received some level of TANF, SNAP or SSI assistance. See Appendix Table 3 for detailed estimates by demographic characteristics. Decrease of 0.3 percentage points from 2018. Since 2010, this indicator declined every year.