The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food benefits for households with lower income. This helps families supplement their food budget and access healthy food options. It is useful to identify communities who have many participants in SNAP to help address food security and food access disparities.
The Census Bureau question asks if an individual or household member has received SNAP benefits in the past 12 months.
Go to: SNAP Participation Map | SNAP Participation Now | SNAP Participation Trend
SNAP Participation Map
Percent of households participating in SNAP
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table S2201; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Insights & Analysis
- King County has the lowest average for SNAP participation (8.0%), followed by Snohomish (8.7%), Kitsap (9.6%), and Pierce (11.6%).
- There are 38 census tracts with no SNAP participation with 30 tracts in King County, two in Kitsap, two in Pierce, and four in Snohomish.
- The four census tracts with the highest participation include one tract in the Eastside neighborhood of Tacoma (49.4%), Downtown Tacoma (44.1%), southeast Des Moines (39.3%), and southeast Kent (35.8%).
- The national average SNAP participation is 11.5%.
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample
Insights & Analysis
- In King County, households with limited English proficiency are more than three times as likely to participate in SNAP.
- As a region, 32% of households with lower income participate in SNAP, leaving room for increased participation.
- SNAP uses an income threshold of 200% of the federal poverty level for qualification, the same definition used here to identify households with lower income.
- 4% of non-lower income households in the region reported participating in SNAP, which is likely a data anomaly due to how the Census Bureau asks about household income.
- Households with limited English proficiency are over twice as likely to participate in SNAP.
- People of color are almost twice as likely to participate in SNAP.
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample
Insights & Analysis
- Regionally, people of color have consistently been almost twice as likely to participate in SNAP compared to the white non-Hispanic population; however, the disparity between these two groups decreased in all counties - Snohomish (-50%), King (-40%), Kitsap (-33%), Pierce (-22%).
- SNAP participation decreased in all counties for households with limited English proficiency between 2012 and 2022, except for Pierce County where participation for the same group increased from 21% in 2012 to 23% in 2022.
- SNAP participation among people with disabilities in the region either stayed the same (Kitsap and Pierce counties) or decreased (King and Snohomish counties) from 2012 to 2022.
- The share of participating lower income households reached 36% in 2017, the highest for any group in the past decade; however, between 2012 and 2022, there was a three percentage point decrease in SNAP participation for households with lower income across the region.