Food Stamps & The Cost of Living

Many of the legends people tell about people on welfare involve buying steaks and lobsters with their EBT cards, so it is perhaps worthwhile to take a closer look at food stamps and the cost of living.

The average monthly allotment for food stamps in NC for example, is $124.58[1] (the U.S. average is $1332). The federal government caps monthly allotments. For one person, that cap is $200. For a family of four, that cap is $668. But many states have even lower caps.

First, we might compare that number to the average grocery bill per month in the U.S. for a family of four: $944/month (in NC that number is much lower at $594³ because the cost of living is lower in NC than for the US average). The most a family of four could get through food stamps is $276 less than what the average family of four in the U.S. spends on groceries, or 71%. More telling, is the comparison to the USDA’s cost plans for a family of four. The USDA developed four plans ranging from thrifty to liberal: thrifty plan: $626.20; low-cost plan: $820.50; moderate-cost plan: 1021.30; liberal plan: 1241.80.4 This means that the maximum amount of food stamps a family of four can get is barely above the lowest possible projection for food management for a family of four. Considering that the vast majority of families will receive less than the maximum, most families will not be able to afford even the cheapest food plan established by the USDA, much less a regular diet of steak and lobsters.

But can all those stories about people using their Electronic Benefit Transfer Card to buy  a steak be false? Certainly not all of them, but a lot fewer than we might assume.

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