With all this talk of the economy getting better, the federal food stamp program has seen a huge increase in 2010. Since January 1, food stamp use has risen nationally by 16.2%. In Washington DC, Tennessee, and Mississippi, nearly 20% of the residents use food stamps. As well last month food stamp usage was up 1.2% over the month before.
Really? The economy is getting better?
Food Stamp Use, by State
Click on the top of any column to resort the chart.
| State | Number of people on food stamps Sept. 2010 | Year-over-year change | Month-over-month change | Percent of population on food stamps |
| U.S. total | 42,911,042 | 16.2% | 1.2% | 14% |
| Alabama | 849,785 | 12.8% | 1.2% | 18% |
| Alaska | 81,196 | 15.4% | -0.1% | 11.6% |
| Arizona | 1,044,410 | 10.9% | -0.3% | 15.8% |
| Arkansas | 483,309 | 8.4% | 0.7% | 16.7% |
| California | 3,466,974 | 17.7% | 1.2% | 9.4% |
| Colorado | 424,878 | 16.8% | 0.1% | 8.5% |
| Connecticut | 364,341 | 22.8% | 1.4% | 10.4% |
| Delaware | 124,755 | 21.9% | 2.6% | 14.1% |
| District of Columbia | 128,759 | 16.4% | 1.7% | 21.5% |
| Florida | 2,881,019 | 25.8% | 2.5% | 15.5% |
| Georgia | 1,693,976 | 16.4% | 0.7% | 17.2% |
| Hawaii | 147,250 | 15.7% | 1.2% | 11.4% |
| Idaho | 214,378 | 39.1% | 1.2% | 13.9% |
| Illinois | 1,839,051 | 18.6% | 8.5% | 14.2% |
| Indiana | 857,992 | 13.3% | 0.6% | 13.4% |
| Iowa | 352,164 | 10.9% | 0% | 11.7% |
| Kansas | 291,126 | 18% | 0.6% | 10.3% |
| Kentucky | 804,538 | 8.7% | -0.1% | 18.6% |
| Louisiana | 864,112 | 10.3% | 0.9% | 19.2% |
| Maine | 237,530 | 9.6% | 0.1% | 18% |
| Maryland | 616,102 | 20.4% | 1.5% | 10.8% |
| Massachusetts | 785,435 | 12.2% | 1% | 11.9% |
| Michigan | 1,884,751 | 15.2% | 0.4% | 18.9% |
| Minnesota | 455,852 | 17.2% | 0.7% | 8.7% |
| Mississippi | 601,432 | 8.7% | 1.1% | 20.4% |
| Missouri | 928,183 | 7.9% | 0.1% | 15.5% |
| Montana | 119,039 | 15.8% | 0.1% | 12.2% |
| Nebraska | 169,385 | 14.5%td> | 0% | 9.4% |
| Nevada | 314,253 | 28.7% | 1.5% | 11.9% |
| New Hampshire | 110,576 | 20.4% | 0.6% | 8.3% |
| New Jersey | 690,075 | 27.2% | 1.9% | 7.9% |
| New Mexico | 390,154 | 20.1% | 0.6% | 19.4% |
| New York | 2,895,995 | 13.3% | 0.8% | 14.8% |
| North Carolina | 1,476,207 | 18.2% | 2.3% | 15.7% |
| North Dakota | 61,229 | 7.1% | 0.3% | 9.5% |
| Ohio | 1,683,877 | 11.9% | 0.8% | 14.6% |
| Oklahoma | 613,531 | 14% | 0.9% | 16.6% |
| Oregon | 738,702 | 13.2% | 0.7% | 19.3% |
| Pennsylvania | 1,644,259 | 13.2% | 0.3% | 13% |
| Rhode Island | 150,450 | 26% | 1.3% | 14.3% |
| South Carolina | 832,651 | 11.3% | 0.3% | 18.3% |
| South Dakota | 99,504 | 14.9% | 0% | 12.2% |
| Tennessee | 1,267,478 | 8% | 0.5% | 20.1% |
| Texas | 3,837,839 | 24.6% | 0.9% | 15.5% |
| Utah | 269,819 | 25.9% | 3.8% | 9.7% |
| Vermont | 87,838 | 7.7% | 1% | 14.1% |
| Virginia | 826,277 | 13.8% | 0.7% | 10.5% |
| Washington | 1,006,518 | 16.4% | 0.8% | 15.1% |
| West Virginia | 343,764 | 5.1% | -0.6% | 18.9% |
| Wisconsin | 762,287 | 21.3% | 0.6% | 13.5% |
| Wyoming | 35,615 | 17.2% | 0.2% | 6.5% |
Sources: USDA, WSJ Research
