---
title: "Chart of the Week: Food stamp enrollment by state, over time"
description: "Participation in the federal food stamp program soared following the 2008-09 financial crisis. Our chart of the week, from the Wall Street Journal, shows how the participation rate differed by state."
date: "2013-08-16"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/08/16/chart-of-the-week-food-stamp-enrollment-by-state-over-time/"
---

# Chart of the Week: Food stamp enrollment by state, over time

[![FT_Food_Chart3](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/08/FT_Food_Chart3.png)](http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/08/09/food-stamp-use-rises-some-15-of-u-s-gets-benefits/tab/interactive/)

Participation in the federal food stamp program (formally the [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program](http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/snapmain.htm)) soared following the 2008-09 financial crisis, both in raw numbers and as a share of the population. As of May, the most recent month for which data are available, 47.6 million people, or 15% of the population, received food stamps; in fiscal 2007, before the Great Recession, participation averaged 26.3 million people, or 8.7% of the population.

But individual states differ widely, not just in participation rates (23% in D.C., 7% in Wyoming) but in their patterns as well. Using data from the Agriculture Department and the Census Bureau, The Wall Street Journal built [this nifty interactive chart](http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/08/09/food-stamp-use-rises-some-15-of-u-s-gets-benefits/tab/interactive/) that allows users to visualize those state-by-state differences.

Louisiana, for example, typically has one of the nation's highest food-stamp participation rates, but participation soars during major natural disasters -- such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Gustav and Ike in 2008, and Isaac this past September. Mississippi's participation also spiked after Katrina and Rita; in May 2011, a spate of severe weather in Alabama led to a jump there.

Alaska's SNAP participation regularly drops late in each year, giving its chart a bit of an EKG-like appearance. That's almost certainly due to the [dividend payments](http://www.apfc.org/home/Content/dividend/dividendamounts.cfm) Alaskans receive in or near October of each year from that state's Permanent Fund. The dividend, which was $878 last year, fluctuates based on the [Permanent Fund's earnings](http://www.adn.com/2013/08/05/3009042/alaska-permanent-fund-ends-year.html); it can represent a significant source of cash income for many Alaskans, especially in rural areas.