Report: SNAP/WIC usage down compared to 2024
New data from Numerator provides insights into how often grocery shoppers are using supplemental food assistance.
For the year to date through April, 3.7% of in-store grocery trips in the United States utilized SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), down from 4.6% in 2024 (full year).
In the first four months of 2025, shoppers spent an average of $32.88 on these SNAP/WIC shopping trips and purchased 8.9 items. This is compared to $32.92 and 9.2 items in 2024.
The data from Numerator comes as SNAP benefits could be cut by roughly 30% if the House-passed Republican spending bill is signed into law, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In March 2023, the temporary SNAP benefit increases that Congress enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic ended, leaving the average person with about $90 less per month in SNAP benefits.
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According to Numerator, the states with the largest percent of in-store grocery trips that utilized SNAP or WIC benefits in 2025 are New Mexico (7.2%), California (6.6%), Massachusetts (6.6%), Oregon (6.4%), Nevada (5.4%) and Hawaii (5.4%).
The Pacific region of the U.S. has consistently shown the highest rates of SNAP and WIC benefit usage, with 6.3% of the region’s in-store grocery trips utilizing these benefits. This is 1.7-times the national average. The West South Central and West North Central divisions saw the steepest drop in SNAP trips, down 24% and 26% respectively.
Currently, SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, provides basic food assistance for more than 40 million people of all ages in the United States. The program was launched in 1964.
