The U.S. Census Bureau has released data from the 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), which provides information on income and participation in assistance programs among individuals and households across the United States. The SIPP is a longitudinal survey, meaning it collects data from the same people over time to track changes in economic well-being, family structure, education, assets, health insurance coverage, child care use, and food security.
The latest release includes detailed tables on participation in various federal assistance programs such as Social Security, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), retirement income sources, unemployment insurance benefits, free and reduced-price school meals, Veterans Administration (VA) benefits, and child support. These tables break down participation by demographic characteristics.
In addition to program participation data, the release features wealth and asset ownership tables that provide national and state-level measures of wealth and debt. These include statistics on home equity, retirement accounts, vehicle debt, credit card balances, and student loans for various demographic groups.
A brief titled “Wealth of Households: 2023” uses information from the 2024 SIPP to examine household wealth in 2023. It discusses differences in asset ownership and debt holding as well as significant variation in median household wealth by factors such as education level and income.
Another brief focuses on monthly and episodic poverty rates for 2023. It examines how many people experienced poverty each month or for two or more consecutive months during the year. The report also looks at how long different demographic groups spent in poverty during this period.
Supporting materials such as data dictionaries, an online codebook for SIPP users, and an updated user guide are available alongside the new data. More details can be found at the SIPP website (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp.html) or through the SIPP Library (https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/sipp/sipp-library.html).
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