Program participation and spending patterns of families receiving government means-tested assistance

Abstract

While average family size was the same, average annual expenditures of families who have children and were receiving means-tested government assistance were about half the amount spent by families not receiving assistance. Food, housing, and transportation took up the greatest share of the family budget regardless of whether any assistance was received. Among families receiving means-tested government assistance, Medicaid was the program with the highest participation rate (84.1 percent) and public assistance was the program with the lowest participation rate (7.0 percent).