Federal spending on USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs totaled $183.0 billion in fiscal year 2022, down six percent from the record-high spending of $194.7 billion in 2021, adjusted for inflation to 2022 dollars.
Before adjusting for inflation, total 2021 spending was $183.3 billion. In 2022, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program maximum allotment permanently increased after the Thrifty Food Plan was re-evaluated, and several States also ended SNAP emergency allotments, which temporarily raised all recipients’ benefits to at least the maximum for their household size. SNAP spending totaled $119.5 billion in FY 2022, one percent less than the inflation-adjusted record-high spending in 2021.
Spending on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, totaled $5.7 billion—an increase of seven percent from inflation-adjusted spending in 2021, reflecting an increase in program food costs per participant. Combined spending on child nutrition programs totaled $35.1 billion in FY 2022, increasing 19 percent from the inflation-adjusted total in the previous year.
