How many people received SNAP benefits by state in 2022?

1. What the key claims say — national totals and leading states that dominate the head‑count

Multiple analyses report an average monthly national participation of about 41.1–41.2 million people in fiscal year 2022, representing roughly 21.6 million households according to one compilation ^{[2] [3]}. Independent summaries and media reporting consistently identify California (about 4.6–4.63 million), Texas (about 3.44 million) and Florida (about 2.85 million) as the three states with the largest absolute numbers of SNAP recipients in 2022, while the smallest absolute counts are found in Wyoming (around 30,000) and North Dakota (around 47,000) ^[1]. Pew Research and USDA analyses emphasize that these figures come from year‑average participation measures rather than snapshot counts on a single day, so comparisons reflect average monthly caseloads across the fiscal year ^{[2] [3]}. The convergence of multiple summaries on these high‑level totals increases confidence in the national magnitude while highlighting that large states account for a substantial share of recipients ^[1].

2. Where the packet supplies state‑level numbers and where it doesn’t — gaps that matter

The supplied analyses reveal that some pieces give partial state detail (examples and extremes), but they do not include a single, complete state‑by‑state table extracted into the packet for 2022; the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS/USDA) pages cited offer links to downloadable data tables that would contain the full state breakdown, but the provided summaries did not extract and present that table ^{[5] [3] [6]}. News and secondary sources in the packet offer highlights — California’s ~4.6 million, Wyoming’s ~30,000, New Mexico’s high population share — but those summaries either mix fiscal and calendar framing or focus on percentages rather than absolute 2022 state head‑counts ^{[1] [4]}. The missing element is a single authoritative, downloaded state table for FY2022 from USDA/FNS included in the analyses; without that explicit table the packet cannot claim a complete per‑state roster for 2022 with direct citations ^[5].

3. Reconciling differing figures — fiscal year versus calendar year and monthly averages versus snapshots

Differences across the summaries arise from methodological choices: fiscal year averages versus point‑in‑time counts, rounding and source updates, and whether counts refer to people or households. The packet’s USDA/ERS analysis frames participation as an average of 41.1 million people per month in FY2022, while Pew cites 41.2 million people in 21.6 million households for the same fiscal year; secondary outlets repeat similar totals but sometimes report slightly different state counts due to rounding or differing extraction methods ^{[3] [2] [1]}. These distinctions are substantive because a state’s monthly average caseload can differ from a single‑month or single‑day head‑count; therefore, comparing state figures across sources requires verifying whether each number is an FY average, a calendar‑year average, or a point‑in‑time snapshot ^{[3] [1]}.

4. What the analyses imply about participation rates and state variation

Beyond absolute counts, the packet highlights that participation rates vary widely by state, with states like New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Oregon and West Virginia showing the highest shares of their populations on SNAP and states like Utah, New Hampshire, Wyoming and North Dakota showing the lowest shares ^{[2] [3]}. One analysis estimates that about 88% of eligible people nationwide received SNAP in FY2022, but it also reports statistically significant state‑by‑state variation, with 19 states and DC above the national average ^[7]. These points indicate that raw recipient counts must be read alongside state population and eligibility coverage to understand program reach and unmet need; some smaller states can have high per‑capita participation despite low absolute totals, and vice versa ^{[7] [2]}.

5. What you would need for a definitive state‑by‑state table and where to get it

To produce a definitive state‑by‑state count for 2022, extract the USDA/FNS “Participation and Costs, FY 1969–2024” or the state‑level monthly/annual datasets referenced in the packet, and use the FY2022 average monthly recipient column; those specific files are indicated on the FNS data pages cited but were not included as extracted tables in the analyses provided ^{[5] [3]}. Once the official FNS Excel/PDF table for FY2022 is downloaded, you can generate an authoritative per‑state list that reconciles format (people vs. households), period (FY vs calendar year) and rounding. Until that extraction is completed, the best supported summary from the packet remains ~41.1–41.2 million participants nationally in FY2022, with California, Texas, and Florida holding the largest shares ^{[3] [1]}.

6. Bottom line — what is known now and how to close the remaining gap

The packet provides consistent national totals and coherent high/low state examples, giving a reliable picture that about 41 million people received SNAP each month on average in FY2022 and that participation varied widely across states by both count and share of population ^{[3] [2] [1]}. The remaining gap is procedural: the packet lacks a directly quoted, complete USDA/FNS state‑by‑state table for FY2022; obtaining that table from the FNS data downloads will deliver the definitive per‑state numbers and eliminate residual rounding or methodological ambiguity ^{[5] [3]}.