State of the Safety Net

Why It Matters

The tool provides the first comprehensive, comparable view of who qualifies for, receives, and misses out on safety‑net benefits, enabling more effective policy interventions and resource allocation.

Key Takeaways

• Urban Institute launches web tool mapping US safety net eligibility
• Tool aggregates eligibility, participation, and gaps for nine major programs
• SNAP eligibility reaches 69 million, highest among all programs
• State-level eligibility rates vary widely, e.g., housing assistance 8‑21%
• Data combines ACS micro‑simulation with administrative case loads

Summary

The Urban Institute unveiled the State of the Safety Net web tool, a new interactive platform that consolidates data on eligibility, enrollment and gaps across the United States’ patchwork of anti‑poverty programs. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Packard Foundation and the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, the tool aims to give policymakers, researchers and advocates a single source for national and state‑level safety‑net metrics.

The tool covers nine core programs – SSI, TANF, SNAP, WIC, public housing, rental vouchers, LIHEAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable Child Tax Credit – and presents four metrics: total eligible population, eligibility rate, participation rate and participation gap. Using the 2023 ACS micro‑simulation and administrative case‑load data, the Institute estimates, for example, that 69 million people (21 % of the U.S. population) were eligible for SNAP, while 34 million households qualified for LIHEAP. Participation rates are available for six programs, revealing sizable gaps between those who qualify and those who actually receive benefits.

Presenters highlighted stark variations across states and demographic groups. Eligibility for public or subsidized rental housing ranges from 8 % to 21 % of households depending on the state, and CCDF child‑care subsidies show eligibility rates from 9 % to 47 % statewide. SNAP eligibility is higher in non‑metropolitan areas than in metros, though the pattern reverses in some states such as Delaware. These granular insights are visualized in the tool’s maps and charts, allowing users to compare neighboring states or specific subpopulations.

By standardizing methodology across programs, the platform equips decision‑makers with comparable evidence to target outreach, design reforms, and anticipate the impact of upcoming policy, funding or economic shifts. Ultimately, the tool seeks to close participation gaps, improve program efficiency, and strengthen the overall safety net for low‑income families.

Original Description

As states face potential funding cuts and shifting policies, understanding who is eligible, who participates, and where gaps exist is crucial for informing effective safety net strategies. State-by-state data on how many people receive safety net benefits is widely available. But data on how many people are actually eligible and what share of them participate has been harder to find and in some cases has not been available at all.

To fill this gap, the Urban Institute’s State of the Safety Net Initiative has created a web tool that provides, all in one place, eligibility and participation estimates for seven different programs—Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); child care subsidies; public and subsidized housing; and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)—plus eligibility estimates for the refundable child tax credit and the earned income tax credit. The tool shows information for the nation as a whole and for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using Urban’s Analysis of Transfers, Taxes, and Income Security (ATTIS) model and real-world caseload data, the tool offers information for groups (such as children or people in metropolitan areas) when sample sizes allow and enables users to easily extract graphics for analysis or communication.

In this webinar, we’ll introduce the tool and demonstrate how to use it to explore important information, such as SNAP eligibility across age groups, LIHEAP participation by geography, and cross-state differences in TANF take-up.

With 2023 data providing a timely baseline ahead of recent policy changes, this tool offers national and state organizations a powerful resource to guide outreach and track the evolution of the post–One Big Beautiful Bill Act safety net.