The New York Times offers an interactive map of the United States showing rates of food stamp usage. While across the nation, 11.5% is the average number of people receiving food stamps, the areas in dark blue in the map show rates of 50% and above. By rolling your cursor over the map, you can see data specific to each county--including your own.
The data was collected in June 2009, and reveals that “The number of food stamp recipients has climbed by about 10 million over the past two years, resulting in a program that now feeds 1 in 8 Americans and nearly 1 in 4 children.”
An accompanying article states that “More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.
Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.”
What’s your experience of food stamps in your county?
To discuss food stamps (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), click on the “Comment” link below.
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