A Third of States Raise TANF Benefits in 2018-2019

January 22, 2019: We’ve updated this post to reflect Nevada’s 2018 increase of TANF benefits.

Sixteen states plus the District of Columbia raised benefits for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in fiscal year 2018 (which began July 1, 2017 in most states) or 2019. (See table.) Still, benefits are at or below 60 percent of the federal poverty line in every state, as our latest report shows. Cash is vital to enable families in poverty to meet basic needs, but TANF benefits have lost considerable purchasing power due to inflation in the 22 years since the program’s creation.

Some recent benefit increases occurred automatically, such as through annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs); others reflect specific state legislative or administrative actions. In six of the 16 states — Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, and Tennessee — these are the first increases in over a decade.

However, 33 states have benefit levels at or below 30 percent of the poverty line, up from 16 states in 1996. And in 18 of those states, benefits are at or below 20 percent of the poverty line — that is, $346 a month for a family of three or less. In addition, the TANF benefit for a family of three is below the estimated cost of a modest two-bedroom apartment and utilities in every state.

Families in poverty often have few or no assets to tap in tough times, and they need cash for basic needs: rent and utilities, personal care items (such as toothpaste, laundry detergent, and diapers), gas or bus fare, and so on. TANF cash assistance helps families afford these basics. Also, a family’s needs may change from one month to the next and, because TANF cash assistance provides direct cash rather than specific goods and services (such as health coverage), it gives them flexibility to use the income in ways that best help their children.

States need to make their TANF benefits more adequate. They should restore the full value of benefits that’s been lost due to inflation since 1996 and any benefit cuts that they made during the Great Recession — even if that requires incremental increases over several years — and they should establish mechanisms to prevent benefits from eroding in the future, such as an automatic COLA.