Originally posted on Quora December 15, 2021
Since Quora decided to delete my answer to the question why do red states get more funding in TANF, SNAP, WIC etc because I hurt their feelings I decided to make it a post here.
The obvious reason is demographics: Southern Red States have a much higher percentage of blacks than the rest of the country, who use public assistance at twice the rate of the general public.
New USDA Report Provides Picture of Who Participates in SNAPChildren in Families That Receive Public Assistance by Race and Ethnicity
Whites are 60% of the National Population but only make up 37% of Welfare Recipients (i.e. are less likely to be welfare recipients than the general population) Blacks are 13% of the National Population but make up 26% of welfare recipients (i.e. are twice as likely to be welfare recipients than the general population). Furthermore, 15% of whites are on some form of public assistance compared to 43% of blacks so its closer to 3x the rate.
Conservative Midwest States like Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming have a much higher percentage of Indians on Indian Reservations that receive more federal funding than what they pay in taxes.
The other obvious reason is that these states have lower median household incomes than the Yankee and West Coast states. This is not a problem with much lower real estate prices and cost of living in general.