Who is awaiting SNAP benefits in KY? Data shows many are working adults, children
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- SNAP reaches 595,200 Kentuckians, providing aid to about one in eight.
- More than 68% of SNAP households include children, higher than national average.
- Over 38% of SNAP recipients are in working families, highlighting employment ties.
As the government shutdown stretched into its fifth week Nov. 3, Brandy Clayton was trying to get back on her feet as an unhoused mother seeking shelter at the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope.
For Clayton, the news that the nation’s largest food assistance program was going to run out of money Nov. 1 was yet another setback. Evicted by her roommate two weeks before, Clayton found herself sleeping at a park. She’d lost her third-shift job and temporarily placed her children into her mother’s care. Now, she was checking into the Salvation Army.
“I don’t think I even need a month, just enough to get a deposit,” Clayton said, her spirits buoyed by a new job she’d gotten at Walmart. “I’m a very hard worker.”
Despite her circumstances, the young woman refuses to feel defeated.
“You got to want to help yourself, and I’m willing to help myself,” she said. “These hard times won’t be long, you know. You just got to stay in there and get through it. Don’t break in between.”
Often referred to as food stamps, Clayton is one of the tens of thousands in Kentucky who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as a lifeline. While food banks are scrambling to meet the surge in demand amid a now historic government shutdown, they can only do so much.
“For every one meal a food bank provides, SNAP provides nine,” Michael Halligan, president and CEO of God’s Pantry Food Bank, previously told the Herald-Leader.
How many people receive SNAP benefits in Kentucky?
SNAP reaches 595,200 Kentucky residents, which translates to 13% of the state’s population or as many as 1 in 8 Kentuckians, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In the Bluegrass State, more than 68% of SNAP participants are in families with children, which is higher than the national average of 62%. In an executive order he signed to direct state dollars to food banks, Gov. Andy Beshear reported 230,000 Kentucky children are at risk of going hungry during the lapse in benefits.
More than 38% of Kentucky SNAP participants are in working families, according to CBPP data.
Program recipients typically must meet several requirements to receive assistance. SNAP is only available to citizens and immigrants who meet certain conditions, and there are also income and work requirements. Eligible households in Kentucky receive an average of $368 per month to put food on the table.
When could Kentucky residents see their SNAP benefits return? How much will they get?
Late Friday, President Donald Trump’s administration announced in a memo to states it was working to issue full benefit amounts for the month of November in compliance with a Nov. 6 court order. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would “complete the processes necessary” to make funds for SNAP available later in the day.
Friday, Kendra Steele, the executive director of public affairs for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, issued the following statement, suggesting recipients could see their full benefits by the start of next week.
“Team Kentucky recognizes the vital role SNAP plays in combatting hunger for the more than 600,000 Kentuckians depending on it, which is why after receiving updated USDA guidance late Wednesday night, our team worked around the clock to ensure the commonwealth would be one of the first states in the nation to successfully have benefits processed for our people on Thursday,” Steele said.
“The Trump administration could have fully funded SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, as every administration has done before it. It did not, delayed the payment process, then opted to only provide partial funds after a judge ordered it to pay SNAP benefits following a lawsuit filed by Gov. Beshear, 24 other states and the District of Columbia,” she continued.
As of Friday, the cabinet reports it is working to provide full benefits to Kentuckians who rely on SNAP, including those who have already received partial benefits, by early next week.
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