Healthy People 2030 sets data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being over the next decade. It includes a national objective of reducing household food insecurity and hunger. Adults who are food insecure may be at an increased risk for a variety of negative health outcomes and health disparities. Food assistance programs may reduce food insecurity and hunger by addressing the barriers to accessing health foods.

The CalFresh Program, federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), issues monthly electronic benefits that can be used to buy most foods at many markets and food stores. CalFresh is for people with low-income who meet federal income eligibility rules and want to add to their budget to put healthy and nutritious food on the table.

This indicator measures the proportion of older adults who participate in CalFresh. As of June 1, 2019, CalFresh became available to more older adults in California. Under the new rules, recipients of benefits under the federal/State safety net for older adults and people with disabilities, Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP), may also be eligible for CalFresh Food benefits without affecting their SSI/SSP monthly benefit. As a result, the CalFresh participation rate for older adults more than doubled from 2018 to 2020.  Check out the Affording Aging Goal Page to explore dynamic visualizations and view more detailed data related to this topic.

To learn more about our data sources and methodologies, please see the Data Dashboard for Aging - About the Data Technical Guide.

• Healthy People 2030: Objective NWS-01
• Healthy People 2030: Food Insecurity (Literature Summary)
• CalFresh Program
• Apply for CalFresh
• SSI and CalFresh
• CalFresh Data Dashboard