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What percentage of SNAP recipients are non-citizens according to USDA data?
Executive summary
USDA data for fiscal year 2023 and related reporting show that non‑citizens are a small minority of SNAP recipients: USDA reports that about 89–90% of SNAP participants are U.S.‑born citizens and other analyses put non‑citizen participants roughly in the 4–5% range or about 1.7 million people in FY2023 [1] [2] [3]. Reporting and fact checks emphasize that most SNAP households include U.S. citizens even when a non‑citizen lives in the household [4] [1].
1. What the USDA’s 2023 data actually says: citizenship breakdown
The USDA’s Characteristics of SNAP Households report and subsequent summaries make clear that the vast majority of SNAP participants are U.S. citizens: PolitiFact cites USDA data showing about 89.4% of SNAP recipients are U.S.‑born citizens, and other outlets summarize USDA reporting to say “almost 90%” are U.S.‑born [1] [2]. WRAL’s fact check using 2023 figures reports that 1.1% of recipients are refugees and about 3.3% are “other noncitizens,” and that adding naturalized citizens raises the share with citizenship to roughly 95.6% in their accounting [4].
2. Alternative tallies: raw counts and different definitions produce different percentages
Analysts who count non‑citizen participants directly show somewhat different numbers depending on definitions. Newsweek cites an Economic Policy Innovation Center analysis that estimated about 1.764 million non‑citizen SNAP recipients in FY2023 (roughly 4–5% of participants), and uses USDA data to calculate associated spending [3]. The variation between “non‑citizen” vs “foreign‑born” vs “U.S.‑born vs naturalized” definitions explains why different outlets report figures that sound different but are consistent with the same underlying data [3] [1].
3. Why definitions matter: U.S.‑born, naturalized, refugees, lawful residents, undocumented
USDA reporting and fact checks emphasize multiple categories: U.S.‑born citizens, naturalized citizens, refugees, lawful permanent residents/asylees, and other noncitizens (which can include people without lawful status living with qualifying household members). PolitiFact and WRAL highlight that counting only “noncitizens” without specifying whether naturalized citizens or refugee/asylee categories are included will produce misleading portraits [1] [4]. USDA guidance also notes undocumented individuals are ineligible but may live in households with eligible members, complicating household‑level tallies [4].
4. Household composition: many participating households include citizens even when non‑citizens are present
USDA data cited in reporting show that the presence of non‑citizens in a household does not mean benefits go to non‑citizen recipients; PolitiFact and WRAL note that 98% of participating SNAP households had U.S. citizens, and only a small fraction of SNAP households had citizen children living with participating non‑citizen adults [4] [2]. That distinction matters when claims assert “immigrants receive most benefits” — household composition and eligibility rules blunt that claim [4] [1].
5. Recent policy changes and reporting context that affect numbers
Congressional and administrative changes in 2025 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and implementing USDA/FNS guidance) altered alien eligibility rules and produced transition/recertification timing effects; FNS issued implementation memoranda and timing carve‑outs through November 1, 2025, which could affect counts going forward [5]. Coverage of SNAP during the 2025 funding disruptions also amplified scrutiny of program statistics and fueled viral, sometimes misleading charts — journalists and fact‑checkers responded by pointing back to USDA’s FY2023 report [6] [1] [2].
6. How to read headline claims and common misinformation
Multiple outlets (Wired, PolitiFact, WRAL) counter social‑media claims that immigrants or non‑citizens are the majority of SNAP recipients by pointing to USDA’s FY2023 tabulations showing nearly 90% are U.S.‑born citizens [7] [2] [1]. Claims that “most SNAP recipients are non‑citizens” are directly contradicted by those USDA summaries and the fact checks [2] [1]. At the same time, reporting notes that different reasonable methods of counting (e.g., counting foreign‑born vs non‑citizen legal statuses) yield different percentage points, which explains persistent confusion [3] [4].
7. Bottom line and what’s left unclear from available reporting
Bottom line: available USDA‑based reporting and multiple fact checks place non‑citizen SNAP participants as a small share — roughly 4–5% by some counts (~1.7 million people) and with nearly 90% identified as U.S.‑born citizens in USDA summaries for FY2023 [3] [2] [1]. Available sources do not mention post‑November 2025 administrative recertification outcomes or a fully harmonized, single public table that reconciles every definition across agencies; for current, definitive figures consult the USDA/FNS “Characteristics of SNAP Households: FY2023” report and the SNAP data tables [8] [9].