Who Uses the Social Safety Net? Trends in Public Benefit Use among American Households with Children, 1980-2020

Increasingly, research suggests that overlapping, simultaneous forms of public investment are especially beneficial for child development. However, participation in social safety net programs is rarely universal among the eligible population, and the phenomenon of multiple benefit use is even more complex: which households with children receive multiple benefits, which combinations of benefits are most common, and which households are most likely to access the social safety net as it has expanded in some areas while contracting in others? Using almost 40 years of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we examine trends in both the number of public benefits accessed by American households with children, as well as the types and combinations of benefits accessed. We find that the percentage of households with children who use at least two benefits has increased during this period. However, the beneficiaries of increasing benefit use have been disproportionately higher-educated, White and married households with incomes above the poverty line.