WIC and SNAP Recipients By State

[her209]

I wanted to find out which state has the most recipients as a percent of their population for federal assistance programs, specifically for WIC and SNAP. I took the 2010 census data and cross referenced it with the preliminary FY2010 data for each program by state, WIC and SNAP. For each program for each state, I took the number of participants and divided it by the state population and sorted the results in descending order.

WIC

State 	Population	FY2010			
Texas	25,145,561	1,036,220	4.12%
California	37,253,956	1,459,406	3.92%
Alaska	710,231	27,020	3.80%
Oklahoma	3,751,351	133,002	3.55%
Mississippi	2,967,297	102,224	3.45%
Louisiana	4,533,372	155,619	3.43%
Arkansas	2,915,918	98,963	3.39%
Arizona	6,392,017	206,741	3.23%
Georgia	9,687,653	311,995	3.22%
Kentucky	4,339,367	139,087	3.21%
New Mexico	2,059,179	65,472	3.18%
Alabama	4,779,736	145,001	3.03%
Idaho	1,567,582	47,046	3.00%
Oregon	3,831,074	114,140	2.98%
South Carolina	4,625,364	134,001	2.90%
Washington	6,724,540	194,572	2.89%
North Carolina	9,535,483	272,447	2.86%
District of Columbia	601,723	16,946	2.82%
South Dakota	814,180	22,778	2.80%
West Virginia	1,852,994	51,798	2.80%
Nevada	2,700,551	74,344	2.75%
Utah	2,763,885	75,389	2.73%
Hawaii	1,360,301	37,029	2.72%
Kansas	2,853,118	77,363	2.71%
Florida	18,801,310	509,733	2.71%
Tennessee	6,346,105	170,588	2.69%
Vermont	625,741	16,804	2.69%
Indiana	6,483,802	174,118	2.69%
New York	19,378,102	512,547	2.64%
Delaware	897,934	23,617	2.63%
Minnesota	5,303,925	138,508	2.61%
Michigan	9,883,640	256,229	2.59%
Ohio	11,536,504	297,672	2.58%
Maryland	5,773,552	147,848	2.56%
Missouri	5,988,927	151,224	2.53%
Nebraska	1,826,341	45,267	2.48%
Iowa	3,046,355	74,685	2.45%
Rhode Island	1,052,567	25,525	2.43%
Wyoming	563,626	13,650	2.42%
Illinois	12,830,632	307,201	2.39%
Wisconsin	5,686,986	126,535	2.22%
Colorado	5,029,196	109,643	2.18%
North Dakota	672,591	14,621	2.17%
Montana	989,415	20,741	2.10%
Pennsylvania	12,702,379	262,270	2.06%
Maine	1,328,361	27,118	2.04%
Virginia	8,001,024	160,400	2.00%
New Jersey	8,791,894	171,060	1.95%
Massachusetts	6,547,629	125,647	1.92%
Connecticut	3,574,097	58,111	1.63%
New Hampshire	1,316,470	17,897	1.36%

SNAP

State 	Population	FY2010	
District of Columbia	601,723	118,493	19.69%
Mississippi	2,967,297	575,674	19.40%
Tennessee	6,346,105	1,224,023	19.29%
West Virginia	1,852,994	341,156	18.41%
Oregon	3,831,074	704,822	18.40%
Louisiana	4,533,372	825,918	18.22%
Michigan	9,883,640	1,776,368	17.97%
Kentucky	4,339,367	778,114	17.93%
New Mexico	2,059,179	356,822	17.33%
Maine	1,328,361	229,731	17.29%
South Carolina	4,625,364	797,110	17.23%
Alabama	4,779,736	805,095	16.84%
Georgia	9,687,653	1,591,078	16.42%
Arkansas	2,915,918	466,598	16.00%
Arizona	6,392,017	1,018,171	15.93%
Oklahoma	3,751,351	582,492	15.53%
Missouri	5,988,927	901,349	15.05%
New York	19,378,102	2,757,836	14.23%
Washington	6,724,540	956,004	14.22%
Texas	25,145,561	3,551,581	14.12%
North Carolina	9,535,483	1,346,495	14.12%
Ohio	11,536,504	1,607,422	13.93%
Florida	18,801,310	2,603,185	13.85%
Vermont	625,741	85,538	13.67%
Rhode Island	1,052,567	138,966	13.20%
Illinois	12,830,632	1,645,722	12.83%
Wisconsin	5,686,986	715,213	12.58%
Indiana	6,483,802	813,403	12.55%
Delaware	897,934	112,513	12.53%
Pennsylvania	12,702,379	1,574,783	12.40%
Idaho	1,567,582	194,033	12.38%
South Dakota	814,180	95,336	11.71%
Montana	989,415	113,570	11.48%
Massachusetts	6,547,629	749,121	11.44%
Iowa	3,046,355	340,304	11.17%
Alaska	710,231	76,445	10.76%
Nevada	2,700,551	278,105	10.30%
Hawaii	1,360,301	138,166	10.16%
Virginia	8,001,024	786,157	9.83%
Maryland	5,773,552	560,848	9.71%
Kansas	2,853,118	269,710	9.45%
Connecticut	3,574,097	336,064	9.40%
Utah	2,763,885	247,405	8.95%
Nebraska	1,826,341	162,817	8.91%
North Dakota	672,591	59,888	8.90%
California	37,253,956	3,238,548	8.69%
Minnesota	5,303,925	430,346	8.11%
Colorado	5,029,196	404,679	8.05%
New Hampshire	1,316,470	104,375	7.93%
New Jersey	8,791,894	622,022	7.07%
Wyoming	563,626	34,799	6.17%

I'll look into doing the same for the Medicaid program if I have time and it the data is available. But what do you guys think about the results -- especially in light of the budget talks?

 

[brandonb]

Can you do it by race?

 

[nick1985]

Can you do it by race?

lol

 

[CPA]

Can you do it by race?

And by legal status.

 

[ultimatebob]

Heh... my state should start a new ad campaign!

Connecticut: We have fewer slackers on welfare than your state does

 

[Texashiker]

Seems to me that 2 of the states with the largest illegal immigrants also have the largest percentage of recipients.

Texas - 4.12%
California - 3.92%

But why is Alaska and Oklahoma 3rd and 4th?

New York with one of the largest populations in the Union is way down the list, why?

 

[Zebo]

I think we sold out our lowest rung people and offshored the jobs for more corporate profits instead so now we end up paying anyway. You always gotta pay one way or the other. 44,000,000 in USA on food stamps is price for putting food on china tables for your iphone and practically everything else in your house. Not so cheap after all huh.

 

[matt0611]

I'm liking new hampshire, low state spending, not a lot of people on welfare, thinking about moving there soon.

 

[her209]

Can you do it by race?

I didn't see any breakdown of the data set by race on the USDA site. Closest thing I could find.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/28/us/20091128-foodstamps.html

 

[her209]

Seems to me that 2 of the states with the largest illegal immigrants also have the largest percentage of recipients.

Texas - 4.12%
California - 3.92%

But why is Alaska and Oklahoma 3rd and 4th?

New York with one of the largest populations in the Union is way down the list, why?

Here's more info about the WIC program:

WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/WIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf

1. What is WIC?
WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health and other
social services to participants at no charge. WIC serves low-income pregnant,
postpartum and breastfeeding women, and infants and children up to age 5 who are at
nutrition risk.

WIC is not an entitlement program; i.e., Congress does not set aside funds to allow
every eligible individual to participate in the program. Instead, WIC is a Federal grant
program for which Congress authorizes a specific amount of funding each year for
program operations. The Food and Nutrition Service, which administers the program at
the Federal level, provides these funds to WIC State agencies (State health
departments or comparable agencies) to pay for WIC foods, nutrition education,
breastfeeding promotion and support, and administrative costs.

 

[brandonb]

Thanks for the website. That is pretty slick.

 

[ElFenix]

Seems to me that 2 of the states with the largest illegal immigrants also have the largest percentage of recipients.

Texas - 4.12%
California - 3.92%

But why is Alaska and Oklahoma 3rd and 4th?

New York with one of the largest populations in the Union is way down the list, why?

native americans?

 

[Texashiker]

native americans?

I think your right - Oklahoma has a large native American Indian Reservation, and Alaska has a large percentage of Native people.

This is my idea on the majority of people receiving assistance.

Texas - 4.12% - large population of illegal immigrants
California - 3.92% - large population of illegal immigrants
Alaska - 3.80% - native americans
Oklahoma - 3.55% - native americans
Mississippi 3.45% - poverty
Louisiana - 3.43% - poverty / illegal immigrants
Arkansas - 3.39% - poverty
Arizona - illegal immigrants

It seems to me that the top states either have a large amount of illegal immigrants, native americans, or a lot of people living in poverty.

The states with the least amount of illegal immigrants and fewest people living in poverty are at the bottom of the list - Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire

 

[her209]

native americans?

The WIC data set doesn't not list any Indian tribes under Alaska. For OK, they make up about 28k or the 133k.

Oklahoma 119,374 119,759 122,840 130,064 133,002
Dept. of Health 94,288 94,741 97,315 102,793 105,104
Choctaw Nation 2,968 3,157 3,475 3,999 4,195
Chickasaw Nation 3,472 3,436 3,504 3,807 3,807
Muscogee Creek Nation 2,267 2,494 2,683 2,845 2,952
Cherokee Nation 7,224 7,093 7,276 7,532 7,435
Citizen Potawatomi Nation 2,253 1,803 1,568 1,396 1,275
Osage Tribal Council 1,992 2,066 2,262 2,583 2,638
Otoe-Missouria Tribe 774 710 676 683 596
Inter-Tribal Council 879 869 831 864 952
Wichita, Caddo & Delaware (WCD) 3,257 3,392 3,252 3,562 4,048

 

[her209]

This is my idea on the majority of people receiving assistance.

See my post above about WIC.

 

[drebo]

Now look it up for cash welfare recipients (EBT, etc).

WIC is only available to women with young children. It is by far not the most popular welfare program, although it is probably the best designed (aid is rendered in-kind only, and only for specific goods).

 

[CPA]

Seems to me that 2 of the states with the largest illegal immigrants also have the largest percentage of recipients.

Texas - 4.12%
California - 3.92%

But why is Alaska and Oklahoma 3rd and 4th?

New York with one of the largest populations in the Union is way down the list, why?

Okie has a lot of indians (native americans) and illegals, as well. Alaska has a lot of poor eskimos (induit).

 

[Throckmorton]

I was surprised by how low Hawaii is on these lists, then I realized it's because families in Hawaii take care of each other. There's a big difference between Asian and mainstream American culture.

Although the higher cost of living probably puts a lot more people out of the eligibility zone

 

[Powermoloch]

I lived on the WIC program when i was a pee wee

I say it helped alot.

 

[Wreckem]

I think your right - Oklahoma has a large native American Indian Reservation, and Alaska has a large percentage of Native people.

This is my idea on the majority of people receiving assistance.

Texas - 4.12% - large population of illegal immigrants
California - 3.92% - large population of illegal immigrants
Alaska - 3.80% - native americans
Oklahoma - 3.55% - native americans
Mississippi 3.45% - poverty
Louisiana - 3.43% - poverty / illegal immigrants
Arkansas - 3.39% - poverty
Arizona - illegal immigrants

It seems to me that the top states either have a large amount of illegal immigrants, native americans, or a lot of people living in poverty.

The states with the least amount of illegal immigrants and fewest people living in poverty are at the bottom of the list - Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire

I think the fact Texas leads the nation by far in terms of teen pregnancy has more to do with it than illegal aliens(whos children born in the state are in fact citizens who ARE eligible for WIC),

 

[PrinceofWands]

Seems to me that 2 of the states with the largest illegal immigrants also have the largest percentage of recipients.

Texas - 4.12%
California - 3.92%

But why is Alaska and Oklahoma 3rd and 4th?

New York with one of the largest populations in the Union is way down the list, why?

Alaska has a high Inuit and native population, and Oklahoma has a super-huge number of American Indians. Both sets are demographically impoverished. Alaska also suffers from exceptionally high food costs to begin with which exacerbates the problem.

 

[piasabird]

Alaska and Oklahoma have native american tribes that fight for their money.

Still wondering what WIC and SNAP is.

In the old days if a native tribe was mismanaged they just starved or died. These were the ones that were not exterminated by the military and greedy ranchers and land owners.

 

[BAMAVOO]

I think the fact Texas leads the nation by far in terms of teen pregnancy has more to do with it than illegal aliens(whos children born in the state are in fact citizens who ARE eligible for WIC),

Who should NOT be made a citizen nor eligible for anything.

 

[Wreckem]

Who should NOT be made a citizen nor eligible for anything.

That requires a constitutional amendment or a supreme court opinion backing your argument on this issue. Your argument has no legal basis.

 

[classy]

I don't know exactly how WIC works, but my girlfreind who was carrying my first daughter recieved it. We were living together in the late 80s and my salary was decent then too and they gave it to us. And they gave it to my wife as well with my 2nd daughter and we did very well as a couple. So I believe there may levels of help from WIC based on income. But I would assume, especially considering me and my wife, WIC will give some level of help to most people.