In May 2011, there were 45,753,078 participants in the United States.[1. As of August 1, 2011.] That’s an increase of 2.5 percent from April 2011 (44,647,861) and an increase of 12.1 percent from May 2010 (40,801,591).
Which states has the most participants?
1. Texas – 3,954,852
2. California – 3,727,005
3. New York – 3,019,981
4. Michigan – 1,926,072
5. Georgia – 1,794,537
It is worth pointing out that Texas has the highest total number of participants despite having over 12.1M fewer residents (total: 25,145,561) than the most populous state–California (37,253,956).[2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census.] Approximately 15.7 percent of all Texas residents are on food stamps; approximately 10 percent of Californians are on food stamps. (It would interesting to see the percentages for the other 48 states.)
One puzzling figure from the May 2011 statistics: 6th ranked Alabama saw its number of SNAP participants double in just one month–1,762,481 from 868,813 in April 2011.
Note: April 2011 statistics are preliminary, and May 2011 statistics are initial (estimates).