Benefit Redemption Patterns in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

In response to the economic downturn and increasing food prices, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) raised the maximum Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit by 13.6 percent, effective April 2009. This study identifies how spending patterns, such as the rate at which households spend their benefit, changed following the benefit increase and analyzes how spending patterns differed across household characteristics, time, and states. In comparing the pre-ARRA to post-ARRA period in 2009, households made an additional 1.6 transactions per month (increasing from 8.5 to 10.1) and spent slightly less, on average, on each transaction (decreasing from $30 to $29).