More than 15 public programs aim to ensure that all Californians can access nutritious food.

• In 2023, an estimated 4.8 million households participated in at least one of the three largest nutrition programs—CalFresh, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and school meals. Smaller programs support nutritional assistance provided by care facilities, food banks, and other settings.
• About one in eight California households lack the resources to consistently meet their food needs, lower than the national rate.
• Latino households (18%) and households with children (16%) are more likely to experience food insecurity compared to white households (9%) and households without children (9%).

CalFresh provides low-income families with monthly resources to buy food.

• Each month, CalFresh—known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—provides grocery money to more than 5 million Californians with adjusted household incomes below the federal poverty line ($26,652 for a family of three). According to the most recent estimates from 2022, 81% of eligible Californians are enrolled, but participation is lower than in many other states.
• CalFresh benefits are currently federally funded, totaling $13.2 billion for state fiscal year 2025–26. County, state, and federal governments share administrative costs ($2.6 billion). Recent federal legislation (HR 1) will increase the state and counties’ share of administrative costs starting in October 2026.
• In 2025–26, the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) is providing $136 million in state-funded benefits that are identical to CalFresh to about 53,000 immigrants with legal status who are ineligible for CalFresh. Undocumented immigrants ages 55 and over will gain CFAP eligibility in 2027. HR 1 ended CalFresh eligibility for as many as 72,000 immigrants with legal status, some of whom may be eligible for CFAP.
• The average monthly CalFresh and CFAP benefit was $195 per person in January 2026.

WIC supports low-income Californians who are pregnant or caring for young children.

• WIC is a federal program that provides healthy food, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to individuals with incomes under 185% of the federal poverty line ($49,303 for a family of three) who are new caregivers, pregnant, postpartum, or under age five, and at nutritional risk. California’s participation rate (69.7%) is higher than the national rate (53.5%).
• During federal fiscal year 2025, WIC provided $835 million in federally funded food benefits to about 1 million Californians; services and administrative costs totaled $378 million.
• In April 2026, food packages were changed to align better with dietary guidelines. The average monthly benefit, which covers items like milk, infant formula, and produce, was $69 per person.

About half of California’s public school students eat free breakfast and/or lunch at school.

• An estimated 3.6 million of California’s 5.8 million public K–12 students are income-eligible for federal free or reduced-price meals. California’s Universal Meals Program covers other students’ meals, ensuring that all students can eat two free meals at school.
• In fall 2025, about 3.1 million students had school lunch each day; 1.8 million ate school breakfast. Three in ten participants had meals funded mainly by the Universal Meals Program.
• Federal dollars fund afterschool and summer meal programs for low-income families, including SUN Bucks, which provides $120 per child to help cover summer grocery costs. About 4.2 million children received benefit cards for summer 2025, largely through automatic enrollment; 3.4 million used the benefits.
• Funding for California’s school meal programs totaled $2.95 billion from the federal government and $1.9 billion from the state in state fiscal year 2025–26. Federal funding for SUN Bucks benefits totaled $787 million for the fiscal year, and state and federal governments split $77 million in administrative costs.

CalFresh, school meals, and WIC lift 1.2 million Californians out of poverty.

• California’s poverty rate (16.9% in 2023) would be 2.3 percentage points higher without CalFresh—a large impact compared to other safety net programs. School meals and WIC lower poverty to a smaller extent.
• The impact on poverty is much larger for enrolled families. For example, without CalFresh and school meals, poverty among participating families would have been 8.2 and 2.5 points higher, respectively.

Recent federal action may reshape core pieces of California’s nutrition safety net.

• Federal legislation (HR 1) requires states with payment error rates over 10% to fund a portion of SNAP benefits starting fall 2027; California’s share could be as much as $2 billion. The decline in federal support for administrative costs starting October 2026 could require up to $670 million more from the state and counties.
• HR 1 makes it harder for states to waive work-related time limits on assistance and expands the group subject to these limits; as many as 660,000 (1 in 8) participants may lose assistance.
• State lawmakers set aside some initial funds to implement these changes. Although the PPIC Statewide Survey finds that 55% of California adults favor using state dollars to offset federal cuts to safety net programs, policymakers face big decisions about how to deliver assistance with a limited state budget.
• California continues to use federal flexibility to expand nutrition assistance programs when possible. The state is testing changes to CalFresh like increasing minimum benefits, excluding educational financial aid from countable income, and pre-enrolling people who are about to be released from prison or jail.