Skip to main content
Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Food Assistance Data & Collaborative Research Programs - National Data Sets

National Data Sets That Are Useful in Food and Nutrition Assistance Research

ERS encourages research that makes appropriate use of existing, nationally representative data. Major types of food-related data are:

  • Store sales
  • Consumer purchases
  • Consumption
  • Availability
  • Other food-related

This page provides an introduction for those new to food and nutrition research who are interested in learning about and building familiarity with the landscape of potential data sets available. The following list provides examples and brief descriptions of data useful for food and nutrition research. These data sets have been used in previous research efforts, addressing topics relating to food and nutrition. Several of these data sets contain items related to food security and food assistance programs. For more information, see the associated web links.

Additionally, supporting this list of examples of available data sets is the ERS Consumer Food Data System (CFDS) webpage. The CFDS webpage describes the data, statistics, and value-added data products that ERS integrates from government, commercial, and academic sources for the CFDS. The CFDS is a comprehensive, integrated data system developed to enable intramural and extramural researchers to examine issues and questions related to food markets, food and nutrition programs, food security, food safety, and consumer food and nutrition choices and their health outcomes. Additional information on some of these proprietary data sources relating to food prices, expenditures, and establishments used by ERS is available on the Using Proprietary Data page.

Examples of relevant surveys include:

American Time Use Survey (ATUS)

The American Time Use Survey (ATUS), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau), interviews about 13,000 respondents aged 15 or older annually. The survey provides nationally representative estimates of how, where, and with whom U.S individuals spend their time. ERS worked with BLS and the Census Bureau to create the Eating and Health Module (EHM) as a supplement to the ATUS. The module contains questions on whether respondents ate or drank while engaged in other activities, such as driving or watching TV; general health, height, and weight; participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly the Food Stamp Program); children's consumption of meals obtained at school; grocery shopping and meal preparation; and household income. More information can be found in the Eating and Health Module (ATUS) data product on the ERS website.

Benefit Redemption Patterns in SNAP

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has a reporting series on the benefit redemption patterns in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These reports examine the benefit redemption patterns related to the timing, number, and dollar amount of transactions, types of stores authorized to redeem benefits and the rate at which households spend down and exhaust their monthly benefits. Starting in 2022, FNS also began including online retailers in the store types authorized to redeem SNAP benefits. The FNS website provides additional information.

Catalogue of Surveillance Systems

The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) developed a free online resource to help researchers and practitioners more easily investigate childhood obesity in the United States. The Catalogue of Surveillance Systems describes in detail existing surveillance systems that collect data related to childhood obesity so that researchers can identify surveillance systems to meet their research and program needs; compare attributes across systems; find information about the systems; and link directly to the systems to download data or other information. The Catalogue provides one-stop access to more than 100 surveys and other data sets, allowing users to search and select surveys that provide a wealth of data at the National, State, and local levels on a range of variables. These data include school policies and health outcomes, as well as eating and exercise behaviors. Health officials at the city and State level also can find data related to their programs. The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) website provides additional information.

Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE)

The CE is an annual survey of household expenditures that is conducted by the BLS. The survey has three major objectives: (1) to provide information on consumer expenditures to support revisions to the Consumer Price Index market basket; (2) to provide a flexible set of data serving a wide variety of social and economic analyses; and (3) to provide a continuous body of detailed expenditure and income data for research purposes. The survey is comprised of two independent household components: a quarterly interview survey for broad expenditure categories and a weekly diary survey for small frequently purchased items (such as individual food items, gasoline, stamps, and other miscellaneous items). The data set includes information on age, race, sex, household size, income, geographic region, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation (formerly the Food Stamp Program). More information is available on the BLS' CE website.

Current Population Survey (CPS)

The CPS is a large, nationally representative monthly survey that obtains information from approximately 50,000 U.S. households. The Census Bureau conducts the survey on behalf of the BLS and other Federal agencies that support the survey. The main purpose of the CPS is to provide estimates of employment, unemployment, and other characteristics of the general labor force. In addition to the labor force data, the March CPS Supplement provides detailed data on annual income and food assistance program participation; the income data are used to calculate State and national poverty estimates. Estimates of food security at the household level were developed using items on a CPS supplement that was sponsored by USDA. The annual food security supplement was introduced in April 1995. The supplement was fielded annually in December each year from 2001 until 2024. Information on the CPS and its supplements can be found on the Census Bureau's CPS website. Information on the CPS food security supplements can be found in the Economic Research Service's Food Security in the U.S. topic page.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS)

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) is a program which provides information about children’s knowledge, skills, and development. The program includes four longitudinal studies, following different cohorts of children. The studies each form a nationally representative sample, and participants come from diverse socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

  • ECLS-B: Follows children born in 2001 through entering kindergarten.
  • ECLS-K: Follows the kindergarten class of 1998–99 through eighth grade.
  • ECLS-K2011: Follows the kindergarten class of 2010–11 through the fifth grade.
  • ECLS-K2024: Plans to follow the kindergarten class of 2023–24 through the 3rd grade.

The ECLS-B study focused on factors affecting readiness for school, and information was collected each year from parents, teachers, birth records, and the children themselves. Data items for the ECLS-B funded by USDA relate to participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), as well as other USDA food assistance programs; infant feeding practices; children's household food security; and children's height and weight. For the other studies, the children's parents, teachers, and schools were also participants in the study. These studies collected information on the children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development (i.e., height and weight); home environment and home educational practices; school environment, classroom environment, and classroom curriculum; participation in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and Food Stamp Program; and household food security status. The National Center for Educational Statistics' ECLS website provides more information on each cohort study.

Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)

The EFNEP is the nation’s first Federal nutrition education program for low-income families and youths. The program is designed to provide these households with advice and counseling (educational material) to improve nutrition, food resource management, and food safety behavior. EFNEP collects annual data assessing dietary intake for adults heading low-income families. These data have been used for evaluation of the program’s effects by the USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and by researchers evaluating the program at the State level. More information can be found on the NIFA website.

Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey (FCBS)

The Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey (FCBS) is a survey that is designed to collect information on U.S. consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about nutrition and food choices. Sponsored by ERS since 2007, the FCBS is a module of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The FCBS collects data on food expenditures, food assistance participation, dietary and nutritional knowledge and behavioral indicators such as time spent grocery shopping. Additional information can be found on the ERS website.

National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)

USDA's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) is the first nationally representative survey of U.S. households to collect unique and comprehensive data about household food purchases and acquisitions. Detailed information was collected about foods purchased or otherwise acquired for consumption at home and away from home, including foods acquired through food and nutrition assistance programs. FoodAPS also included the 30-day, 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. More information, data access, and documentation are available on the ERS website.

Food and Nutrition Service's Program Data

The USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the Federal domestic nutrition assistance programs. In partnership with State and Tribal governments, FNS's programs serve about one in four U.S. individuals during the course of a year. These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); school meals programs like the National School Lunch Program, and food distribution programs such as Emergency Food Assistance. Programs administered by FNS are listed on the FNS website (linked below). FNS provides statistical information on aspects of all major food and nutrition assistance programs, including historical summaries, annual State-level data for selected elements, monthly national-level data for major programs, and State-level participation in major programs for the latest available month. The summaries begin with 1969, the year that FNS was established to administer USDA's food and nutrition assistance programs. Information about FNS nutrition programs is available on the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) website.

Food Security Data Information

Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. USDA developed a standardized survey module for assessing food security status. This module has been included on a number of national surveys, the most prominent of which was the Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau. For more information on national surveys that include the USDA food security module, see ERS's Food Security in the U.S. topic page.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)—administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)—is a comprehensive, longitudinal source of data on the costs and uses of health care and health insurance coverage in the United States. The survey consists of a household component and an insurance component. The household component contains information on a nationally representative sample of approximately 12,000 families and individuals, drawn from a subsample of households that participated in the previous year’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The household component of MEPS includes information on the demographic characteristics, health conditions and health care, income, food assistance program participation, and employment status for each person in the household. Beginning in 2016, the household component also includes the U.S. Adult Food Security Survey Module. The insurance component contains information on health insurance plans offered to employees, based on a sample of private and public sector employers. For more information, see the MEPS web page.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

NHANES is an ongoing survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey assesses the health and nutritional status of the population and monitors changes over time, especially in comparison with information from NHANES I, II, and III, which were conducted in earlier periods. A major objective of the survey's nutrition component is to provide data for nutrition monitoring purposes, including tracking nutrition, identifying risk factors related to food insecurity, and estimating the prevalence of compromised nutritional status. A second major objective is to provide information for studying the relationships among diet, nutritional status, and health. A dietary 24-hour recall is used to obtain dietary data. The data set variables include gender, age, race, ethnicity, income, education, employment, health insurance coverage, marital status, and food assistance program participation. Outcome variables of interest include numerous nutritional and health indicators, such as: food and nutrient intake, dietary practices, body measurements, hematological tests (including iron status), biochemical analyses of whole blood and serum (including lipid, lipoproteins, lead, and glucose tolerance), blood pressure, electrocardiograms, urine tests, bone densitometry, dental examinations, gallbladder ultrasonography, and cognitive and physical functioning. The NHANES website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information.

National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is the principal source of information on the health of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United States and is conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). In 2011, USDA began to sponsor the inclusion of the 10-item adult 30-day food security module on the NHIS. Given the extensive health information collected in the NHIS, these data are a rich source for examining both the effects of long-term health problems and disability on food insecurity, as well as the effects of food insecurity on more immediate health outcomes. The NHIS public-use family data file (available on the NCHS website) includes responses to each of the 10 food security items. The NCHS Survey Description document provides guidance for users on how to create food security scores that summarize adult food security status for the family, using the standard USDA food security classifications, based on the 10 adult items. More information is available on the NHIS web page.

National Survey of America's Families (NSAF)

The NSAF, conducted by the Urban Institute, provides a comprehensive look at the well-being of adults and children. The survey provides quantitative quality-of-life measures and pays particular attention to low-income families. The survey is representative of the non-institutionalized, civilian population under age 65 in the Nation as a whole and in 13 States: Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Together, these 13 States are home to more than half the Nation's population and represent a broad range of fiscal capacities, child well-being, and approaches to government programs. The Urban Institute's Lessons Learned From the National Survey of America's Families provides more information.

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)

The PSID, begun in 1968, is a longitudinal study of a representative sample of U.S. individuals and their families, including an oversampling of the low-income population. As families have grown and changed over time, the sample size has grown from 4,800 families in 1968 to 6,434 families in 1999. A sample of 441 immigrant families was added in 1997. The PSID has collected information about more than 60,000 individuals spanning as much as 30 years of their lives. The central focus of the data is economic and demographic variables that are useful for research on dynamic processes. PSID contains substantial detail on income sources and amounts, employment, family composition changes, and residential location. Some waves of the study also included variables oriented more toward sociological or psychological research. The study is conducted at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan and has been supported over the years by funding from various government agencies, foundations, and other organizations. More information is available from the University of Michigan's PSID website.

School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS)

The School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS) (formerly the School Health Policies and Programs Study) is a national survey that was conducted periodically to assess school health policies and programs at the State, district, school, and classroom levels in elementary, middle/junior, and senior high schools. SHPPS was designed to answer the following four questions: (1) what are the characteristics of eight school health program components (health education, physical education and activity, health services, mental health and social services, food service, school policy and environment, faculty and staff health promotion, and family and community involvement) at the State, district, school, and classroom levels nationwide? (2) who is responsible for coordinating and delivering each component of the school health program and what kind of education and training have they received? (3) what collaboration occurs among staff from each school health program component and with staff from State and local agencies and organizations? and (4) how have key policies and practices changed over time? State-, district-, and school-level questionnaires were designed to collect information on State, district, and school policies and programs that are specific to each school health-program component, with an emphasis on policy. Classroom-level questionnaires were designed to describe required instruction and techniques used in teaching health topics and physical education. The SHPPS is no longer being updated, however archived webpages and data are available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More information is available from the School Health Policies and Practices Study website.

SNAP Data System

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Data System provides time-series data on State and county-level estimates of SNAP participation and benefit levels, combined with area estimates of total population and the number of persons in poverty. Note: Updates to this data product are discontinued.

SNAP Policy Database

The SNAP Policy Database provides a central data source for information on State policy options in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The database includes information on State-level SNAP policies relating to: eligibility criteria, recertification and reporting requirements, benefit issuance methods, availability of online applications, use of biometric technology (such as finger-printing), and coordination with other low-income assistance programs. Data are provided for all 50 U.S. States and the District of Columbia for each month from January 1996 through December 2020. The SNAP Policy Database is typically updated every 4 years, subject to data availability.

SNAP Quality Control Data File (SNAP-QC)

The SNAP-QC database contains detailed demographic, economic, and program eligibility information for a nationally representative sample of approximately 50,000 SNAP units (a SNAP "household" is known technically as a "unit"). The SNAP-QC data are generated from monthly quality control (QC) reviews of SNAP cases that are conducted by U.S. State SNAP agencies to assess the accuracy of eligibility determinations and benefit calculations for the State's SNAP caseload. These data, which are produced annually, are ideal for tabulations of certain characteristics of SNAP units and for simulating the impact of various SNAP policy changes on current SNAP units. These data can be found on the FNS website.

SNAP Retailer Locator

The SNAP Retailer Locator is a website that is maintained by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) that provides an interactive map showing locations of all SNAP retailers and a downloadable database of SNAP retailer records.

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)

The main objectives of the SIPP are to collect information on income by source, employment, program participation and eligibility, and general demographic characteristics. This information is used to measure the effectiveness of existing Federal and State programs; to estimate future costs and coverage for government programs, such as food stamps; and to improve statistics on the U.S. distribution of income in the country. The Census Bureau (which conducts the SIPP) uses a longitudinal, multistage-stratified design to survey the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States. The sample size ranges from approximately 14,000 to 35,000 interviewed households, with the duration of each panel ranging from 2½ to 4 years. Variables include labor force behavior; income; participation in public programs; basic demographic characteristics; living arrangements; food adequacy or abbreviated food security module; participation at the individual level in the Food Stamp Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and participation at the household level in the free, reduced-price, and full-price categories of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The Census Bureau's SIPP website provides additional information.

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD)

The SPD is a special extension of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) that is designed to look specifically at the effects of welfare reform. Congress mandated that the Census Bureau continue to collect data on the 1992 and 1993 panels of SIPP (as necessary) to obtain information on changes in participation in public assistance programs, employment, earnings, and measures of adult and child well-being. The data collected from the 1992 and 1993 SIPP panels provide 3 years of longitudinal baseline data prior to major welfare reform. The SPD's data include information on program eligibility, access, and participation; transfer income and in-kind benefits; food security; and detailed economic and demographic data on employment and job transitions, income, and family composition. The 3 years of SIPP data (combined with the 7 years of SPD data) will provide panel data for 10 years. More information is available on the Census Bureau's SPD website.

Return to Overview