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Characteristics of Food Stamp Households:
Fiscal Year 2000
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The Food Stamp Program (FSP) provides millions of Americans with the
means to purchase food for a nutritious diet. The FSP is the largest of
the 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). In an
average month in fiscal year 2000, the FSP served approximately 17.2
million people. This report presents the characteristics of food stamp
households nationwide in fiscal year 2000 (October 1999 to September
2000). This information on household characteristics comes from FSP
household data for fiscal year 2000 collected by FNS for quality control
purposes.
FSP Participation and Costs
In an average month in fiscal year 2000, the FSP provided benefits to
approximately 17.2 million people living in 7.3 million households across
the United States. The total cost of the program over fiscal year 2000 was
$17.1 billion, $15.0 billion of which were for food stamp benefits.
The average monthly food stamp benefit in fiscal year 2000 was $158 per
household. Compared with fiscal year 1999, the number of FSP participants
decreased by 6 percent and FSP benefit costs decreased by 5 percent.
Characteristics of Food Stamp Households and
Participants
In fiscal year 2000, slightly over half of all food stamp participants
were children, 39 percent were nonelderly adults, and 10 percent were
elderly people. About 68 percent of the children were school age, and 70
percent of adult participants were women.
Approximately 89 percent of food stamp households lived in poverty, as
measured by the fiscal year 2000 federal poverty guidelines issued by the
Department of Health and Human Services (see Appendix D). Food stamp
benefits were concentrated among poorer households––33 percent of all
food stamp households had a gross income less than or equal to half of the
poverty guideline, and these households received 54 percent of all
benefits. If the value of food stamps is included as income, 6 percent of
all food stamp households moved above the poverty guideline as a result of
receiving food stamps, and 16 percent moved from below to above half of
the poverty guideline.
Of all food stamp households, 89 percent contained either a child or an
elderly or disabled person, and these households received 91 percent of
all benefits. Households with children received a relatively large average
monthly food stamp benefit ($234), reflecting their larger household size.
The average household with children had 3.4 people compared with an
average of 2.3 people for all households. Most of the food stamp
households with children were single-adult households. Almost half of
these single-adult households with children received support from
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). About 43 percent of all
food stamp households with children had earned income; 39 percent of
single-adult households with children and 65 percent of married–couple
households with children had earnings. Twelve percent of all households
with children had both TANF and earned income.
Households with an elderly member received a relatively small average
monthly food stamp benefit ($59), reflecting their relatively small
average size (1.3). Almost 80 percent of food stamp households with an
elderly member consisted of an elderly person living alone. These
individuals received an average monthly benefit of $44 compared with
average monthly benefits of $116 for households with elderly people not
living alone and $184 for households without any elderly.
October 2001
Last modified: 12/04/2008
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