Nearly One in Three Mississippians Eligible for Food Assistance

America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers

A woman donates a bag of fruit to a food bank.

Nearly One in Three Mississippians Eligible for Food Assistance

Mississippi had the nation’s highest rate of individuals eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in 2020 — nearly 1 in 3 — according to a U.S. Census Bureau data visualization.

The recently redesigned visualization, which shows SNAP benefits in 1,157 counties in 23 states aims to increase understanding of access to SNAP and inform future outreach.

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The interactive tool uses data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) and state administrative records to capture the age, race/ethnicity, household composition, presence of children, internet access and veteran and health insurance status of SNAP recipients and potential candidates.

We linked individual ACS records to state administrative records of SNAP participants, following a methodology outlined in a 2013 report.

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