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Food Assistance Data & Collaborative Research Programs Charts - Costs and participation

USDA food and nutrition assistance programs, costs, and participation, fiscal year 2024
Program name Year begun Fiscal year 2024 cost (million U.S. dollars) Fiscal year 2024 participation
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 1961 $99,787.9 41.7 million participants per month
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 1972 $7,184.5 6.7 million participants per month
National School Lunch Program (NLSP) 1946 $17,711.0 4.8 billion total lunches served
School Breakfast Program (SBP) 1966 $5,702.8 2.5 billion total breakfasts served
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) 1968 $4,072.4 1.7 billion total meals served
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP or SUN Meals) 1969 $516.1 159.2 million total meals and snacks
Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Program (Summer EBT or SUN Bucks) 2024 N/A* N/A*
Special Milk Program (SMP) 1955 $4.7 17.6 million total half pints served
State Administrative and Other Costs for Child Nutrition Programs N/A $571.7 N/A
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT)** 2020 $361.2 N/A
Nutrition Assistance Program for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas (NAP) 1982*** $3,005.3 N/A
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) 1981 $2,416.5 N/A
Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) 1969 $384.2 716,025 participants per month
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) 1976 $152.8 53,483 participants per month
Nutrition Services Incentive Program**** 1965 $2.2 N/A
Disaster Feeding N/A $0 N/A
Administrative expenses (not elsewhere classified) N/A $168.7 N/A
Total expenditures N/A $142,203.1 N/A

*Data not available as of April 2025.
**Also includes negligible SNAP expenses not categorized elsewhere.
***American Samoa's Nutrition Assistance Program started in 1994.
****Administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
N/A = Not applicable.

Note: Fiscal year 2024 information is based on preliminary data from the September 2024 Program Information Report (Keydata) released by USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in December 2024. Information on the year programs began (other than P-EBT and Summer EBT) comes from the Annual Historical Review Fiscal Year 1997, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service, September 1999.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using USDA, FNS data.

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