Which state had the largest SNAP enrollment in 2024?
Executive summary
California had the largest number of SNAP participants in 2024, with reporting that California’s CalFresh enrollment stood at about 5,472,654 participants as of September 2024 [1], while New Mexico had the highest share of its population on SNAP—about 21.2 percent—making it the most reliant state by proportion in fiscal year 2024 [2] [3].
1. California leads in raw enrollment numbers
By count, California is identified in available reporting as having the single largest SNAP caseload: Investopedia cites California’s CalFresh program at 5,472,654 participants as of September 2024, which places the state first when measuring total participants rather than population share [1]. Other data aggregators and summary sources note that the states with the largest populations—California, Texas, New York, and Florida—tend to show the highest absolute numbers of SNAP recipients, a pattern driven by population size more than per-capita reliance [4].
2. New Mexico is the most dependent state by share of residents
The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) and related USDA charts make a different but complementary point: in fiscal year 2024 the share of a state’s residents receiving SNAP benefits ranged from as high as 21.2 percent in New Mexico to as low as 4.8 percent in Utah, meaning New Mexico led on percentage of residents served even though its total caseload is far smaller than California’s [2] [3]. This distinction—absolute enrollment versus enrollment as a share of state population—matters for interpretation: policy debates often hinge on per-capita reliance, while program scale and budget considerations focus on raw numbers [2] [3].
3. Why the two measures diverge and what each shows
The divergence between California’s top ranking by headcount and New Mexico’s top ranking by share reflects simple math and policy context: larger states naturally have higher total caseloads even when a smaller percentage of residents enroll, whereas smaller states with deeper economic need or different administrative features can register very high per-capita participation [4] [2]. Reporting emphasizes both angles: population-weighted totals highlight program scale and cost, and percentage-of-population figures illuminate concentration of need and relative reliance [4] [2].
4. Data limitations and differences in reporting focus
Sources vary in focus and timing: Investopedia’s September 2024 CalFresh number is a snapshot for California’s program specifically [1], while USDA/ERS summaries describe fiscal-year-averaged SNAP participation and percentage metrics for all states [2] [3]. Some outlets rank states by percentage of residents on SNAP rather than absolute counts, which can lead to headlines that single out New Mexico as “most dependent” even as California remains the largest program by enrollment [2] [1] [4]. Where reporting diverges, the difference is methodological—count versus share—rather than outright contradiction [2] [1] [4].
5. Bottom line for the question asked
When the question is interpreted as asking which state had the largest SNAP enrollment in 2024 by number of participants, California is the answer, with roughly 5.47 million participants reported for CalFresh as of September 2024 [1]. When interpreted as which state had the largest share of residents on SNAP, New Mexico is the leader at about 21.2 percent in fiscal year 2024, a distinction made clear in USDA/ERS reporting [2] [3].