CalFresh Program Information

The CalFresh Program is a Federally funded program that helps low-income people buy the food they need for good health. For most households, CalFresh benefits are only part of their food budget, and they must spend some of their own cash along with their CalFresh benefits in order to buy enough food for a month.

CalFresh Household Profile*

The following is a selection of some of the key characteristics of the households receiving CalFresh benefits in FFY 2015.

Average Age of Head of Household: 39.9 years
Average age of child: 7.6 years
Average number of persons per household: 2.1
Recipients who are U.S. citizens: 93.4%
Recipients who are female heads of households: 67.1%
Household completing at least 12 years of education: 71.2%
Single-person CalFresh only households:
(% of all Non-Assistance Households) 54.0%
CalFresh households that have received CalFresh benefits for five years or more: 10.2%
CalFresh households with earnings: 24.7%
Average CalFresh allotment per household $299
CalFresh Recipients that also Receive CalWORKS (including two-parent program) Benefits 25.6%
CalFresh Households that also Receive CalWORKS (including two-parent program) Benefits 19.3%

Ethnicity of head of household:
--Hispanic/Mixed Race 40%
--White 33%
--Black 18%
--Other 7%
--Mixed Race 2%

Ethnicity of the CalFresh recipients:
--Hispanic/Mixed Race 57%
--White 22%
--Black 13%
--Other 6%
--Mixed Race 2%

*Based upon RADEP data for FFY2015