SNAP participation rates track changes in poverty, but not unemployment.
A line chart with three lines comparing the yearly SNAP participation rate from 2002 to 2022, the unemployment rate in that same time period, and the share of the population with incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level. Poverty and SNAP participation lines follow similar trajectories, but at different levels. From 15% to 20% of people are at that poverty level in the years shown. SNAP participation ranges from 6% to 15%. The comparative anomaly is unemployment, which ranges from 5% to 10% and largely doesn’t follow the patterns of the other two lines.