Introduction
Research Questions
- How do TANF policies vary across states?
If a family needs help covering their expenses during a period of financial hardship, will they qualify for temporary cash assistance? If so, how much assistance can they receive each month, and for how many months can they receive it? The answers to these questions depend not only on the family’s circumstances but also on where they live.
The primary program that provides cash aid to families in need is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. TANF is a block grant, meaning the federal government provides each state with a set amount of money that the state combines with its own funding to meet the program’s goals. Each state establishes its own policies for exactly who can get help, how much they can receive, and for how long. These policies can vary greatly across states.
This brief provides a graphical overview of some of the TANF policy differences across states. It includes information about initial eligibility, benefit amounts, work and activity requirements, and ongoing eligibility and time limits.
Purpose
The Welfare Rules Database tracks state TANF policies over time, from 1996 to the present. The database includes hundreds of variables related to initial eligibility, benefit amounts, work and activity requirements, and ongoing eligibility and time limits. The database is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)/ and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and maintained by the Urban Institute. This brief is a companion to the 2020 Welfare Rules Databook and provides a graphical overview of some of the policy differences across states.
Key Findings and Highlights
Key findings for state TANF policies in July 2020 include:
- The maximum monthly earnings that a family of three could have and still be initially eligible for TANF ranged from $268 in Alabama to $2,359 in Minnesota.
- Seventeen states required that unemployed applicants search for a job as a condition of application.
- The maximum monthly benefit for a single-parent family with two children and no income living in the most populous area of the state ranged from $170 in Mississippi to $1,086 in New Hampshire.
- Twenty-five states provided cash assistance to families after they stop receiving regular monthly TANF benefits, with the transitional help lasting for periods ranging from 1 to 24 months.
Methods
The policies discussed in this brief are a small subset of the policies available from the Welfare Rules Database. The database tracks TANF policies for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data are collected primarily from the caseworker manuals and documents used to administer the TANF program in each state. State administrators are also asked to review a subset of the policies annually to ensure accuracy of the data collection and coding. The full database containing all of the variables and longitudinal details is also made available for public use at https://wrd.urban.org .
Citation
Knowles, Sarah, Ilham Dehry, Katie Shantz, and Sarah Minton (2022). Graphical Overview of State TANF Policies as of July 2020. OPRE Report 2021-160, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- TANF:
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families