Many Americans, including Republicans, depend on federal services and assistance.
The most comprehensive data source we have is the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, although its most recent data is from 2023. That year, nearly 23 million SNAP recipients (65%) were adults, and 12.4 million (35%) were children.
Non-Hispanic White people accounted for 44.2% of adult SNAP recipients and 24.8% of child recipients in 2023. Nearly 27% of adult recipients and almost a third of child recipients (32.3%) were Black. Hispanics, who can be of any race, accounted for 24.2% of adult recipients and 40.7% of child recipients.
The vast majority of both adult and child recipients were born in the United States – 81.1% and 96.9%, respectively.
Among adult recipients, 54.1% had a high school diploma or less education. And despite the program’s work requirements, 61% said they had not been employed at all that year.
The Census Bureau also looked at households where at least one person received SNAP benefits. More than six-in-ten of these households (63.1%) reported having no children in 2023; almost a third (32.7%) said they lived alone. Among all SNAP-receiving households, 39% were in the South, the highest share of any region.
