Universe: Families - B22007001 - Receipt of Food Stamps/Snap in the Past 12 Months by Family Type by Number of Workers in Family in the Past 12 Months - American Community Survey Tables: 2007 -- 2011 (5-Year Estimates) (ACS11_5yr) - Survey ACS 2011 (5-Year Estimates)

Data Dictionary:

ACS 2011 (5-Year Estimates)

you are here: choose a survey survey data set table variable details

Survey: ACS 2011 (5-Year Estimates)

Data Source:

U.S. Census Bureau

Data set: American Community Survey Tables: 2007 -- 2011 (5-Year Estimates) (ACS11_5yr)

Table:

B22007. Receipt of Food Stamps/Snap in the Past 12 Months by Family Type by Number of Workers in Family in the Past 12 Months [43]

Universe: Universe: Families

Variable Details

B22007.	Receipt of Food Stamps/Snap in the Past 12 Months by Family Type by Number of Workers in Family in the Past 12 Months
	Universe: Universe: Families
	B22007001Universe: Families Percent base: None - percentages not computed (variable is table universe) Aggregation method: Addition

Relevant Documentation:

Excerpt from:	Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2007-2011 Summary File: Technical Documentation.
	The 2007-2011 ACS 5-Year Summary File Technical Documentation -> Appendix A. Supplemental Documentation -> Subject Definitions -> Housing Variables -> Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits (SNAP)

Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits (SNAP)

The data on Food Stamp benefits were obtained from Housing Question 12 in the 2011 American Community Survey. The Food Stamp Act of 1977 defines this federally-funded program as one intended to "permit low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet" (from Title XIII of Public Law 95-113, The Food Stamp Act of 1977, declaration of policy). Food purchasing power is increased by providing eligible households with coupons or cards that can be used to purchase food. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the Food Stamp Program through state and local welfare offices. The Food Stamp Program is the major national income support program to which all low-income and low-resource households, regardless of household characteristics, are eligible.

On October 1, 2008, the Federal Food Stamp program was renamed SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Respondents were asked if one or more of the current members received food stamps or a food stamp benefit card during the past 12 months. Respondents were also asked to include benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to incorporate the program name change.

Question/Concept History

The 1996-1998 American Community Survey asked for a 12- month amount for the value of the food stamps following the Yes response category. For the 1999-2002 ACS, the words "Food Stamps" were capitalized in the question following the Yes response category, and the instruction "Past 12 months' value - Dollars" was added. Since 2003, the words "received during the past 12 months" were added to the question following the Yes response category. Beginning in 2008, the value of food stamps received was no longer collected; the wording of the question was changed from "At anytime during the past 12 months" to "In the past 12 months," and the term '"food stamp benefit card' was added.

Adding the text "food stamps benefit card" to the question text and removing the dollar amount portion of the question resulted in a statistically significant increase in the recipiency rate for food stamps because of a decrease in item nonresponse rate.

Limitation of the Data

Beginning in 2006, the population in group quarters (GQ) is included in the ACS. Many types of GQ populations have food stamp distributions that are very different from the household population. The inclusion of the GQ population could therefore have a noticeable impact on the food stamp distribution. This is particularly true for areas with a substantial GQ population.

The Census Bureau tested the changes introduced to the 2008 version of the Food Stamp benefits question in the 2006 ACS Content Test. The results of this testing show that the changes may introduce an inconsistency in the data produced for this question as observed from the years 2007 to 2008, see "2006 ACS Content Test Evaluation Report Covering Food Stamps" on the ACS website (http://www.census.gov/acs/www/).

Comparability

The Food Stamp/SNAP question is not asked in Census 2000. Because of the wording change on the 2008 ACS questionnaire, you cannot compare data before and after 2008.

Excerpt from:	Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2007-2011 Summary File: Technical Documentation.
	The 2007-2011 ACS 5-Year Summary File Technical Documentation -> Appendix A. Supplemental Documentation -> Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Household Type and Relationship -> Relationship to Householder -> Family Households

Family Households

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family. A family household may contain people not related to the householder, but those people are not included as part of the householder's family in tabulations. Thus, the number of family households is equal to the number of families, but family households may include more members than do families. A household can contain only one family for purposes of tabulations. Not all households contain families since a household may be comprised of a group of unrelated people or of one person living alone - these are called nonfamily households. Families are classified by type as either a "married- couple family" or "other family" according to the sex of the householder and the presence of relatives. The data on family type are based on answers to questions on sex and relationship that were asked of all people.

Married-Couple Family - A family in which the householder and his or her spouse are listed as members of the same household.
Other Family:

- Male Householder, No Wife Present - A family with a male householderand no spouse of householder present.
- Female Householder, No Husband Present - A family with a female householder and no spouse of householder present.

Family households and married-couple families do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state issuing marriage certificates for same-sex couples. Same sex couple households are included in the family households category if there is at least one additional person related to the householder by birth or adoption.