Cash assistance programs help low-income Californians meet basic needs.

• According to the California Poverty Measure (CPM), cash-based programs kept 1.8 million Californians—including 760,000 children—out of poverty in early 2023. But not all who are eligible are enrolled.
• Eligibility, requirements, funding sources, and oversight vary widely across the largest cash-based programs: California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payments (SSI/SSP), and state and federal refundable tax credits.
• While tax credits reach more low-income Californians, CalWORKs and SSI/SSP have the largest impact on poverty among participants.

CalWORKs assists families, while General Assistance helps a small number of adults.

• CalWORKs provides monthly cash assistance to very low-income families with dependent children. Many parents must be working or making progress in education or training to remain eligible. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible but may have eligible family members (usually citizen children).
• In 2024–25, appropriated federal, state, and local spending for CalWORKs cash assistance totals $4.3 billion. Starting in October 2024, monthly maximum grants range from $1,121 to $1,180 for a family of three. Additional program funds go toward education, training, and employment services and support, including child care.
• Approximately 60% of eligible families participate in CalWORKs, according to the latest estimates from 2019, and 76% of the 910,000 participants are children. The state Department of Social Services is creating additional metrics of program take-up, including real-time measures.
• County-run and -funded General Assistance (GA) programs assist about 172,000 low-income, working-age adults per month who are not eligible for other cash assistance. Counties have spent about $542 million on GA in 2024–25, with Los Angeles County making up 72% of cases and 60% of spending. Benefits are typically time-limited and average $264 per month.
• Several guaranteed income pilots focused on foster youth, pregnant individuals, and older adults aim to test the impact of unconditional cash payments on poverty, health, quality of life, and additional outcomes.

SSI and SSP assist low-income individuals who are disabled or age 65 or older.

• SSI assists low-income individuals who are blind, meet strict disability criteria, or are 65 or older; California augments this income with SSP. The California Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) serves about 17,000 legal residents who do not meet non-citizen criteria for SSI; undocumented immigrants are ineligible.
• About 1.1 million people receive SSI/SSP, mostly those ages 18–64 (40%) and 65 and older (52%). The share of eligible Californians who participate is not tracked, but participation has declined 14% over the past decade.
• Federal SSI benefits totaled $7.7 billion in 2024, while state SSP benefits totaled $3.6 billion. After making cuts during the Great Recession, the state increased SSP benefits in recent years. As of 2023–24, maximum monthly SSI/SSP payments were $1,207 for individuals and $2,058 for couples.

Refundable tax credits help those with low and moderate earnings.

• Low-income earners who file taxes get refundable federal and state credits, including Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC), and the California Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC). State credits are more focused on very low-income families, though a wider age range of filers and undocumented immigrants are eligible. The state began the new Foster Youth Tax Credit (FYTC) in the 2022 tax year.
• The federal EITC averaged $2,528 and the CTC averaged $1,865 for the 2023 tax year. The CalEITC averaged $280 ($619 for families with children). For very low-income filers with a child under six, the YCTC added up to $1,117. The FYTC provided up to $1,117 to income-eligible current and former foster youth ages 18–25.
• The IRS estimates that 77% of eligible California families (about 2.5 million tax filers and their families, or 5.4 million people overall) got the federal EITC for the 2022 tax year. This take-up rate was 45th nationwide. The CalEITC was claimed by 3.5 million filers (and benefited roughly 5.8 million people) for the 2023 tax year; about 413,000 of these filers also got the YCTC, and about 5,700 got the FYTC.
• Federal EITC spending in California totaled $6.19 billion for the 2023 tax year; the state spent about $986 million for the CalEITC, $427 million for the YCTC, and $6 million for the FYTC.

State and federal policy decisions affect the reach of the cash-based safety net.

• Poverty rose in early 2023 after pandemic cash benefits like the federal advance Child Tax Credit expired.
• California-specific programs are smaller but have not seen cuts so far. However, the state faces budget challenges in future years that may bring difficult decisions about maintaining cash assistance programs.
• Federal immigration actions are likely to reduce safety net participation among eligible immigrants and their US-born family members (especially children), raising poverty and reducing state efforts to improve program participation among eligible Californians.