The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased SNAP receipt and the Federal government approved increases to benefit amounts for those receiving SNAP. However, these known changes were generally not reflected in the reported 2021 SIPP, including the monthly SNAP receipt and amount variables (RSNAP_MNYN and TSNAP_AMT, respectively). Specifically, SIPP respondents did not report a sharp increase in SNAP participation in the spring of 2020 that is present in aggregate administrative records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the SNAP program. Additionally, SNAP amounts reported in 2021 SIPP do not always align with program changes that standardized benefit amounts based on the program unit size. 

Data users should be aware of this when doing COVID-19 analyses of SNAP at the monthly level or analyses using SNAP amounts.