Regional Differences in Use of Food Stamps and Food Pantries by Low Income Households in the United States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of food stamps and private food assistance in different regions of the country during 1999, a year when food stamp use dropped to its lowest point in the recent past. Our results show that impoverished families in the South are less likely than those in other regions to obtain private food assistance, although they are more likely than those in the West or Midwest to use food stamps. Low-income families in the Northeast are also more likely than those in the West or Midwest to use food stamps