PARTICIPATION RATES IN THE FOOD STAMP

Madison by the Office of Economic Opportunity pursuant to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 •. It was also supported by the Legal Action Support Project of the Bureau of Social Science Research, Washington, D.C. The views expressed are solely those of the authors. This paper presents preliminary estimates of the number of persons eligible for food stamps, on average throughout 1974, for each state and the nation. Previous estimates of the number of food-stamp eligibles have all been based on national household sample data that did not allow an adequate allocation of the resultant national figure among states. By contrast, this study begins with U.S. census household income data at the sta.te lev~l, and projects these data to current levels as the basis for determining the size of the 1974 eligible population in each state under current Food Stamp Program eligibility standards. In addition to gross household incomes, other factors that ente