Costs and participation

USDA food and nutrition assistance programs, costs and participation, fiscal year 2021
Program name Year begun Fiscal year 2021 cost ($ millions) Fiscal year 2021 participation
SNAP and WIC
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 1961 113,804.0 41.5 million participants per month
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 1972 4,998.7 6.2 million participants per month
Child nutrition programs
National School Lunch Program (NLSP) 1946 5,833.7* 9.5 million participants per school day
School Breakfast Program (SBP) 1966 2,082.5* 5.4 million participants per school day
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) 1968 3,768.7 1,852.7 million total meals served
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) 1969 10,657.8 3,048.5 million total meals and snacks
Special Milk Program (SMP) 1955 3.0 14.3 million total half pints served
State Administrative and Other Costs for Child Nutrition Programs N/A 6,077.9 N/A
Other
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer** 2020 28,255.4 N/A
Farmers to Families Food Box Program*** 2020 3,030 73.1 million total boxes distributed
Nutrition Assistance Program for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas (NAP) 1982**** 2,090.8 N/A
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) 1981 1,354.1 N/A
Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) 1969 300.3 661.1 thousand participants per month
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) 1976 113.1 48.0 thousand participants per month
Nutrition Services Incentive Program***** 1965 1.6 N/A
Disaster Feeding N/A 0.06 N/A
Administrative expenses (not elsewhere classified) N/A 148.5 N/A
Total expenditures N/A 182,516.8 N/A
Note: Fiscal year 2021 information is based on preliminary data (subject to revision) from the January 2022 Program Information Report (Keydata) released by USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in April 2022 and information provided by USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Spending on FNS programs includes USDA bonus foods. Information on the year other programs began comes from the Annual Historical Review Fiscal Year 1997, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service, September 1999.
*An additional $4,477,136,970 was spent across both programs for meals served through the NSLP and SBP’s Seamless Summer Option in the last 3 months of fiscal year 2021 (July-September). In total, combined NSLP and SBP expenditures amounted to $12.4 billion.
**Also includes negligible SNAP expenses not categorized elsewhere.
***Administered by the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service.
****American Samoa's Nutrition Assistance Program started in 1994.
*****Administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
N/A = Not applicable.

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