The SSGI is a composite index of four major safety-net programs: TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance

US social welfare policy is governed by a labyrinthine set of rules that define program eligibility, enrollment procedures and the cash value of benefits received and administration of many programs is delegated to the states. The State Safety-Net Generosity Index (SSGI) is a composite index of four major safety-net programs (TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance) with eligibility rules and benefit levels that vary by state between 1996-2020. We selected these programs since state discretion is allowable to varying degress in program implementation on certain key policy decisions that affect participants experience of these programs.

The SSGI captures programmatic policies that vary by state including income eligibility cut-offs for different categorical eligibility groups, immigrant eligibility, administrative burden in enrollment and renewal processes and measures of compliance rules and benefit amounts.

We compiled data on program eligibility rules, administrative burden and cash benefit equivalents from a number of publicly available data sources documented in the SSGI Working Paper. The index is scored such that a higher index value means a more generous policy. Policies that increase the number of people who are eligible, reduce barriers to enrollment/renewal, reduce compliance costs, and provide a larger amount of assistance were considered more generous. States that do the maximum allowable by federal law to increase enrollment and provide maximally generous benefits would receive a of 100 and states that do the minimum allowable by federal law receive a 0.