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How many Black or African American individuals received SNAP benefits in 2022?
Executive Summary
The provided sources do not state a definitive count of Black or African American individuals who received SNAP benefits in 2022, so the precise number cannot be directly extracted from the materials at hand. The datasets and reports cited indicate that about 41.2 million people participated in SNAP in an average month during Fiscal Year 2022, and separate analyses report that Black households comprised roughly 24–25 percent of participating households in related years, but these documents stop short of giving a verified 2022 individual-level racial total in the supplied excerpts [1] [2] [3]. The only reliable conclusion from the provided analyses is that a direct, source-backed count for Black or African American individuals in 2022 is not present; any numeric figure would therefore require either consulting Table 3.6 of the USDA report or accessing the Census table B22005B for 2022, neither of which is reproduced here [3] [4].
1. Why the direct answer is missing — the data gap that matters
All supplied materials emphasize that the USDA’s “Characteristics of SNAP Households” and various census tabulations contain the necessary breakdowns, but the exact 2022 figure for Black or African American individuals is absent from the excerpts provided. The USDA FY2022 summary establishes a clear baseline: 41.2 million people participated in SNAP on average per month in FY2022, and the report contains tables (notably Table 3.6) that would usually enumerate participants by demographic groups—yet the text given here does not show the table’s entries [1] [3]. Likewise, the Census detail for Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP by Race of Householder references table B22005B as the relevant tabulation for Black or African American householders but does not include the numeric output in the supplied snippet. The practical effect is that the authoritative sources are identified, but the count is not extractable from the provided extracts [4] [3].
2. What the available percentages and summaries imply about magnitude
Independent commentary and policy analyses included in the supplied materials consistently report substantially higher SNAP participation rates among Black households: figures of roughly 24–25 percent of participating households being Black are cited for contexts around 2022–2023, and advocacy analyses report Black households were more than twice as likely to face food insecurity [2] [5]. Combining those percentages with the USDA’s FY2022 total population figure (41.2 million participants) suggests a plausible scale in the single-digit or low-double-digit millions of Black individuals receiving SNAP in 2022. However, the supplied sources do not present an explicit, validated calculation of individuals by race for 2022 and therefore do not confirm an exact count; they only demonstrate that Black participation was a large and disproportionate share of total SNAP recipients [1] [5].
3. Where to find the authoritative, source-level number that’s missing
The supplied analyses point to two primary authoritative tables that would contain the missing number if accessed in full: USDA’s Table 3.6 (SNAP participants and benefits by selected demographic characteristics) and Census table B22005B (Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP by Race of Householder — Black or African American Alone). The USDA report and the Census tabulation are explicitly named by the analysts as the sources that would provide the direct count, but the excerpts here do not reproduce those tables. To obtain a verifiable 2022 individual count you must consult those specific tables in the full USDA FY2022 households report or the Census B22005B dataset for the 2022 reference period; the supplied materials stop at identifying those sources rather than delivering the numeric result [3] [4].
4. Reconciling household percentages with individual counts — methodological caveats
The supplied materials also flag an important methodological caveat: many published figures refer to households, not individuals, and household-level percentages do not translate cleanly into individual counts without data on household size and composition. The USDA summary and policy analyses indicate high household participation rates for Black households, but converting a percentage of households into a number of individuals requires knowing average household size for the subgroup in 2022—information not supplied in the excerpts. The Census B22005B table focuses on households by householder race, which is a different denominator than individual participant counts. Therefore, producing an accurate individual-level number from household percentages without the underlying tabulated counts introduces risk of misestimation and is not supported by the provided content [3] [6].
5. Bottom line and recommended next steps to get a definitive number
The bottom line from the supplied analyses is clear: the exact number of Black or African American individuals who received SNAP benefits in 2022 is not included in the provided excerpts; authoritative tables that contain the number are identified but not shown. To get a definitive, verifiable figure you must retrieve USDA’s Table 3.6 from the “Characteristics of SNAP Households” FY2022 report and/or Census table B22005B for 2022 and extract the individual-level counts. The provided materials give a reliable context—41.2 million total participants and a roughly 24–25 percent Black household share in adjacent analyses—but they do not supply the direct, source-cited numeric answer for 2022 without consulting those specific tables [1] [3] [4].