Greetings—

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits did not cover the cost of a modestly priced meal in 99 percent of US counties last year, Urban Institute experts find in new analysis. Using data from 2024, the updated map allows users to explore the gap between the maximum SNAP benefit and the cost of a meal in their county.

In the last quarter of the year, the researchers found a 20 percent shortfall between the cost of a modestly priced meal and SNAP’s average maximum benefit. And in a corresponding blog post, the researchers explain how cuts to the program in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) could widen these gaps.

When examining the data by county and region, the researchers find that:

Overall, 53 percent of counties have a meal price more than $.50 per meal higher than the maximum SNAP benefit. Nationally, the average meal cost $0.57 more than the national average maximum benefit of $2.84, and the maximum benefit fell short of meeting monthly meal costs by $53.01.
The five counties with the largest gaps were in New York, Michigan, Idaho, Wyoming, and California. Each county had a meal price more than 75 percent higher than the maximum SNAP benefit.
A larger gap existed between the cost of a meal and the maximum benefit in urban areas than in rural areas. On average, the cost of a meal exceeded the maximum benefit by $0.82 (29 percent) in urban areas and by $0.53 (19 percent) in rural areas.

According to the researchers, the biggest threat to SNAP benefit adequacy in the OBBB is the requirement for all future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan to be cost neutral, meaning the US Department of Agriculture cannot update benefits outside of adjustments made for inflation even if the data suggests there’s a need to do so.