Brian McClure
Jul 28, 2026
Policy & Research
BACKGROUND
In 1967, mothers, ministers, farmworkers, and civil rights advocates testified before the United States Senate about hunger and poverty in the Mississippi Delta. They spoke in vivid, deeply personal, and heartbreaking detail about what it meant to raise children, find work, and survive poverty in rural America.
They described children going to bed hungry, families without running water, parents unable to find work, and communities left to starve. The testimony became a turning point in the national conversation about hunger and poverty. The hearings also helped spur renewed attention to nutrition assistance, health care access, and programs for children and families with low incomes.
Nearly sixty years later, the nation has made important investments to strengthen the social safety net. Yet many eligible families still struggle to access these benefits. Further, federal policy changes threaten to widen existing gaps in participation. Since July 2025, states have already reported sharp declines in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment. Texas alone saw child participation decline by more than 253,000 children, while Louisiana lost nearly 79,000 child participants. Nationally, child enrollment has fallen by more than 728,000 children, accounting for nearly half (46%) of the overall decline in SNAP enrollment reported to date.
In South Carolina participation among eligible young adults is among the lowest in the nation. These trends underscore the importance of understanding who is accessing the safety net and what barriers may prevent eligible households from receiving assistance.
So What is SNAP?
SNAP is the nation's largest anti-hunger program. SNAP is a federally funded program that provides monthly benefits to families (households and individuals). Families may use these benefits to buy groceries and food. Research finds SNAP reduces hunger, improves food security, supports healthier diets, and helps lift families above the poverty line. The average SNAP benefit works out to about $186 per person per month, or $6.11 per person per day.
Who Benefits from SNAP?
Despite some misconceptions, SNAP is not just a program for people without jobs. In reality, the program supports working families, older adults, and people with disabilities whose wages or fixed incomes are not enough to consistently cover housing, food, transportation, and health care.
Snapshot at the State Level
In Fiscal Year 2026, SNAP served more than 524,000 South Carolinians every month and generated approximately $1.1 billion in federal food assistance for communities across the state.
Despite SNAP's effectiveness, many eligible South Carolinians never receive benefits despite being eligible. A recent Urban Institute analysis estimates that in 2023, just 28 percent of eligible young adults ages 18 to 24 participated in SNAP. This rate places South Carolina with one of the lowest participation rates in the nation. By comparison, Louisiana reached 69 percent and Georgia reached 65 percent.
FIGURE 1 Share of Eligible Young Adults Participating in SNAP Across the South
Snapshot at the County Level
As Table 1 illustrates, 81 percent of SNAP households included at least one worker during the previous year, half included someone age 60 or older, and nearly six in ten included a person with a disability.
The data also challenge common misconceptions about who relies on SNAP. Although the median SNAP household income in Charleston County was approximately $25,000, substantially below the county median household income of roughly $93,000, more than half of SNAP households had incomes above the federal poverty line, which was $31,200 for a family of four in 2024. This finding highlights both the limitations of the federal poverty measure and the extent to which many working families in Charleston County continue to struggle with housing, food, healthcare, and childcare costs despite being officially above the federal poverty line.
TABLE 1 Who Receives SNAP in Charleston County, 2024
Between 2024 and 2026, Charleston County lost more than 2,300 SNAP households and approximately $1 million in monthly federal food assistance. Whether those households achieved greater economic stability or simply encountered new administrative barriers is a question local policymakers should examine closely. Notably, the latest June 2026 Department of Social Services report shows monthly spending ($4.50 million), participation in households (11,881), and participation among individuals (23,805) continue to shrink.
TABLE 2 Charleston County’s SNAP Rolls are Shrinking
Administrative Barriers
SNAP participation has declined across the country, but the decline does not appear to reflect a sudden reduction in need. Since the 2025 federal budget law took effect, national SNAP enrollment has fallen by more than 4 million people, marking the steepest decline since the 1990s. Recent federal policy changes have expanded work reporting requirements to adults through age 64, extended requirements to some parents, eliminated exemptions for certain vulnerable populations, and created new financial incentives for states tied to payment error rates. Together, these changes suggest that access itself is becoming a barrier, as many eligible families continue to face challenges navigating applications, paperwork requirements, interviews, and renewal processes.
Why it Matters
A safety net only works if eligible families can access it. When families who qualify for SNAP do not participate, households lose critical food assistance and may face greater economic hardship and food insecurity. Local and state leaders should examine administrative barriers, strengthen outreach efforts, and pursue policies that make it easier for eligible families to successfully enroll in and maintain benefits.
ENDNOTES.
Note on data and methods
This brief draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the Urban Institute's ATTIS microsimulation model, and South Carolina Department of Social Services administrative records. ACS estimates are known to undercount participation in public assistance programs and should therefore be considered conservative estimates of SNAP receipt. Comparisons between poverty and SNAP participation are intended to illustrate potential gaps between need and program utilization rather than estimate formal participation rates.
Urban Institute, "Safety Net Programs Fall Short in Reaching Eligible Young Adults," Urban Wire, 2026. Estimates from the ATTIS microsimulation model, combined 2022 and 2023 American Community Survey data.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "South Carolina: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" fact sheet, January 2025.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Republican Megabill Is Implemented," 2026.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Sharp Drop in Number of Children Receiving SNAP Food Assistance Under New Federal Law," May 27, 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table S2201, Food Stamps/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Charleston County, SC.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B22003, Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP by Poverty Status, Charleston County, SC.
South Carolina Department of Social Services, Report FR388, SNAP Participation by County, April 2024, April 2025, and April 2026.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance, "TANF Caseload Data 2021," Fiscal Year 2021.
Lauren Bauer, "A Healthy Reform to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Updating the Thrifty Food Plan," Brookings Institution, August 2021.
Kristin Butcher, "The New Thrifty Food Plan Re-Evaluates a 50-plus-Year-Old Design and Low-Income Kids Will Benefit," Brookings Institution, September 2021.
APPENDIX.
The exhibits below break down SNAP receipt in Charleston County by race and ethnicity of householder, using two different measures. "Share of group receiving SNAP" is the participation rate within each group, meaning 22 percent of all Black households in the county received SNAP, while "share of SNAP caseload" shows each group's slice of the county's 12,594 SNAP households, of which Black households make up 62 percent despite being fewer than one in five households countywide. Estimates for Hispanic households and other smaller groups are unreliable in a one-year county sample and should not be read as true zeros.
