Via Food Research & Action Center
By Emily Pickren
One in 10 households with seniors (age 60+) participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), on average each year between 2012–2016. This is according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed in interactive tools released today by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), in collaboration with AARP Foundation.
These first-of-their-kind interactive maps and accompanying tables show the share of all households with seniors that participated in SNAP nationally, in each state, and among the nation’s 3,142 counties. Seventeen percent of all counties have rates of senior household SNAP participation that are higher than the national average of 10.2 percent, ranging from 12.1 percent in Franklin County, Ohio to 47.7 percent in Starr County, Texas. Overall, 39 states included at least one county with a participation rate above the national average, 21 states had at least ten counties with rates above the national average, and seven states had more than 20 counties with SNAP participation rates in senior households that were higher than 10.2 percent. In 11 states, at least a third of the counties had rates above the national average, and in New Mexico, Washington, South Carolina, New York, Alabama and Florida, at least 25 percent of counties had rates higher than the national average.