Publication Date:
October 3, 2024
Current as of:
The Characteristics and Financial Circumstances of TANF Recipients tables provide demographic data on adults and children in TANF active families receiving cash assistance and closed cases. Key highlights from the data show that in an average month in FY 2023:
- About 497,500 adults and 1.5 million children received TANF cash assistance.
- There were approximately 385,000 child-only families (those in which no adult received TANF cash assistance), which accounted for 46.6 percent of the total TANF caseload in an average month.
- On average, TANF recipient families received $650 in cash assistance per month.
- Over one third of adult TANF recipients (37.3 percent) had less than a high school education, 52.3 percent had completed high school (or its equivalent) but no further education, and 10.4 percent had education beyond high school.
- In an average month, 22.2 percent of TANF adult recipients were employed.
National and state-level data are available, as well as data on families receiving assistance through Separate State Program (SSP)-Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) programs.