- There are 24,667 households in Florida’s 17th Congressional District currently receiving Food
Assistance with an average family size of 3 individuals.(1) - The maximum benefit for a family of 3
is $768 per month.(2) - The reality is that most families receive less due to deductions taken for a
variety of factors, so the average benefit for a 3 person family is only $594.(3)
Since Charlotte County accounts for 26.4% of the total population of Florida’s 17th, that means
there are 6,519 families in our county who receive SNAP Assistance, bringing $46,467,432 into
our county every year. Experts estimate that every $1 of SNAP Assistance spent adds $1.50 in
economic activity to the community, so our local economy will shrink by almost $ 70 million.(4)
All states have a work requirement for adults who are not totally disabled to receive SNAP. That
means that SNAP recipients who can work must be either working, actively looking for work or
in a training program.
Florida has very strict work requirements and very few exemptions or
exceptions. As with most anti-poverty programs,
- 2/3 of SNAP recipients are either children, elderly or totally disabled.
- 86% of SNAP recipient families with at least one non-disabled adult reported some income in the year in which benefits were received.
Most of these individuals work in low-wage jobs such as cashiers, cooks or home health aide. (5) These jobs are often part-time or seasonal and are subject to any downturn in the economy. They also don’t include health
insurance or any paid sick leave, so any absence for either the worker’s own illness or any care-giving responsibilities can lead to frequent periods of unemployment, making SNAP vital to that family’s survival.
- https://www.fns.usda.gov/data-research/data-visualization/snap-community-characteristics-congressional-district-dashboard Data as of March 2025
- https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits
- In preparation for this article members looked at how much we spent in food per month and found that for
2 people, who don’t eat meat every day, the total averaged $750. - https://www.floridapolicy.org/posts/more-than-1-6-billion-in-snap-cuts-to-florida-would-put-residents-and-state-budget-at-risk-in-2028.
- https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-provides-critical-benefits-to-workers-and-their-families. Data as of 2021.
