Introduction
Research Questions
- How do TANF policies vary across states and territories?
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 and territory with a set amount of money that the state or territory combines with its own funding to meet the program’s goals. Each state and territory 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 and territories.
This brief provides a graphical overview of some of the TANF policy differences across states and territories. It includes information about initial eligibility, benefit amounts, work and activity requirements, and ongoing eligibility and time limits.
Purpose
The purpose of this publication—the Welfare Rules Database’s annual Graphical Overview—is to provide researchers and policymakers with easy access to detailed information on the policies that govern cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Previous editions of this report have provided information on TANF policies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia over time, from 1996 to the present. Beginning with the data for 2022, the project also began tracking the policies used in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 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 2023 Welfare Rules Databook and provides a graphical overview of some of the policy differences across states and territories.
Key Findings and Highlights
Key findings for state and territory TANF policies in July 2023 include:
The maximum monthly earnings that a family of three could have and still be initially eligible for TANF ranged from $307 in Alabama to $2,935 in Minnesota.
Sixteen 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/territory ranged from $204 in Arkansas to $1,243 in New Hampshire.
Twenty-seven states provide 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, the District of Columbia, and the territories. Data are collected primarily from the caseworker manuals and documents used to administer the TANF program in each state or territory. State and territory 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
Moclair, Kevin, Sarah Knowles, Lauren Simpson, and Ilham Dehry (2024). Graphical Overview of State and Territory TANF Policies as of July 2023. OPRE Report 2024-358, 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