For young adults, access to social safety net benefit programs can be crucial not only for meeting immediate basic needs during periods of instability but also for supporting long-term economic success. Yet many eligible young adults do not receive the benefits they qualify for. We present findings for how many young adults are eligible for three key safety net supports and the share of eligible young adults who receive these benefits. The three safety net supports we examine are food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), cash aid through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and public and subsidized housing provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Why This Matters

Periods of instability can have lasting consequences for young adults who are in a critical developmental stage, and research shows that many young adults ages 18 through 24 experience instability and economic hardship. Programs that provide food assistance, cash aid, and housing assistance can help mitigate short-term economic hardship and provide more stability as young adults transition into adulthood.

Understanding more about young adults’ eligibility and participation in social safety net programs can help inform efforts to connect young adults with critical safety net supports. While evidence shows young adults face challenges in accessing benefits, little is known about the scale of the problem. Our analysis seeks to fill this gap by providing new evidence about how many young adults are eligible for key safety net programs under existing program rules, and among those young adults, what percentage are able to access benefits.

What We Found

Our analysis shows that even when young adults satisfy all of a program’s eligibility rules for SNAP, TANF, and public and subsidized housing, they often do not receive the benefits.

Nationally, we find the following among the 27.1 million people ages 18 through 24 living in the community (not in group quarters, such as dormitories):

• 5.8 million young adults (or 21 percent of the young adult population) are eligible for SNAP, and less than half of those who are eligible receive benefits, meaning more than half of eligible young adults do not receive SNAP benefits
• 0.5 million young adults (or 2 percent of the young adult population) are eligible for TANF, and less than a quarter of those who are eligible receive benefits, meaning more than 75 percent of eligible young adults do not receive TANF benefits
• 1.3 million households headed by young adults (or 27 percent of all households headed by young adults) are eligible for public and subsidized housing, and slightly less than 10 percent of those who are eligible receive benefits, meaning more than 90 percent of eligible young adult-headed households do not receive public and subsidized housing benefits
• In the case of SNAP and housing assistance, the national-level participation rates among eligible young adults are substantially lower than the rates across all age groups, showing that compared with other age groups, the young adult population appears to have a particularly challenging time accessing those benefits
• In the case of SNAP, young adult participation is strongly influenced by their living situation, with higher rates for young adults who are the head or spouse of a family with children (79 percent) and young adults who are living in a household headed by their parents or another adult (75 percent), and a much lower rate for young adults who are the household head or spouse but do not have children (21 percent) 

At the state level, we find the following:

• For SNAP, among the 49 states with sufficient sample sizes to produce estimates for young adults, the participation rate for eligible young adults ranges from less than 17 percent in Hawaii, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming to 95 percent in Massachusetts. Compared with the SNAP participation rates for the total population in each state, young adults have a lower participation rate in 48 states and a higher participation rate in 1 state.
• For TANF, among the 30 states with sufficient sample sizes to produce TANF participation rate estimates for young adults, Georgia and Texas have the lowest participation rates, with each serving less than 2 percent of eligible young adults. Massachusetts has the highest TANF participation rate, serving almost 80 percent of eligible young adults. Compared with the participation rate for all people in the state (both children and adults), young adults have a lower TANF participation rate in 14 states and a higher TANF participation rate in 16 states.
• For public and subsidized housing, across the 49 states with sufficient sample sizes to provide estimates for households with a head or spouse under age 25, we find the participation rates for these households range from 3 percent in Arizona and Utah to 23 percent in West Virginia. Compared with all households, households headed by a person under age 25 have lower participation rates in all 49 states with sufficient sample sizes for households headed by a young adult.

How We Did It

We used the Analysis of Transfers, Taxes, and Income Security (ATTIS) microsimulation model to estimate young adults’ eligibility for SNAP, TANF, and public and subsidized housing. The ATTIS microsimulation model is a comprehensive set of computer programs that applies the rules of each program to each household in the American Community Survey data to estimate whether some or all people in the household are eligible for the program.

For each program, program participation rates are estimated by dividing the number of people or households receiving the benefit by the number who are estimated to be eligible for the benefit—nationally or by state, in total and for specific subgroups. The numbers of people or households receiving the benefits in 2023 are obtained from the available administrative data for each program. 

The technical appendix provides detailed information on the data adjustments and on the modeling methods for the three programs.