Financial Security

Increasing


Households Receiving Temporary Assistance

What does this measure?

The number of households that received any public assistance or welfare payments in the past 12 months, expressed as a percentage of total households.

Why is this important?

This measure represents the number of households which rely upon government support to meet their basic needs.

How does our county compare?

In 2017-21, 2.9% of Lancaster County households received public assistance income. This rate is slightly below the state rate (3.3%), and slightly above the national rate (2.6%), and is 1.1 percentage points higher than the rate in 2000.

During the same period, 7.8% of residents in the City of Lancaster received temporary assistance. This level was up slightly from 6.7% in 2000.

Lancaster County's rate in 2017-21 was similar to Dauphin, Lebanon and York, higher than Chester and Cumberland (both at 1.9%), and lower than Berks, at 3.4%.

Notes about the data

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a federally funded program administered at the state level, meaning that eligibility requirements vary from state to state. ACS does not ask specifically which program provides the income, although TANF is the primary source of public assistance funds. Families are eligible for TANF benefits for up to 60 months, although most receive assistance for shorter periods of time.

Studies have found that national survey estimates (including the ACS) of enrollment in public benefit programs tend to underestimate the true rate due to underreporting by participants, when compared with state-level administrative data. Underreporting can occur for a variety of reasons, including the social stigma of program participation and participants' confusion about the source of the services they receive. For these reasons, the estimates reported above should be considered a lower bound of the true estimate.

Households Receiving Temporary Assistance
20002007-112012-162017-21
Pennsylvania3.1%3.4%3.4%3.3%
Lancaster County1.8%2.6%3.2%2.9%
Lancaster City6.7%9.2%9.1%7.8%
Lancaster County Boroughs
Adamstown borough0.8%3.1%***1.6%***2.2%***
Akron borough1.1%2.6%***0.0%***2.8%***
Christiana borough1.9%0.8%***3.9%***3.9%***
Columbia borough3.0%3.2%**6.4%**4.7%**
Denver township0.8%6.6%**1.2%***3.3%***
East Petersburg borough0.0%1.5%***3.5%***4.4%***
Elizabethtown borough1.1%1.8%***2.3%***2.1%***
Ephrata borough1.5%1.9%***3.8%**3.1%***
Lititz borough1.4%3.4%***2.1%***3.7%***
Manheim borough2.4%1.3%***6.8%***4.7%***
Marietta borough1.2%0.6%***4.7%***4.6%***
Millersville borough0.8%2.3%***2.0%***4.5%***
Mount Joy borough1.8%1.2%***4.6%***1.0%***
Mountville borough1.8%1.3%***0.0%***5.9%***
New Holland borough1.1%1.9%***4.2%***3.9%***
Quarryville borough0.5%1.6%***1.8%***2.0%***
Strasburg borough0.0%1.0%***0.7%***3.3%***
Terre Hill borough0.5%0.6%***0.0%***2.1%***
Lancaster County Townships
Bart township0.2%1.2%***0.0%***0.0%***
Brecknock township1.4%3.3%***3.5%***0.0%***
Caernarvon township0.4%0.9%***0.7%***0.7%***
Clay township0.6%1.8%***2.3%***0.9%***
Colerain township0.4%0.0%***0.0%***1.4%***
Conestoga township2.3%1.4%***4.8%***6.4%***
Conoy township1.0%1.0%***5.1%***2.1%***
Drumore township1.5%1.1%***2.9%***2.6%***
Earl township1.3%0.5%***0.7%***1.4%***
East Cocalico township1.1%1.6%***4.1%***1.0%***
East Donegal township0.5%0.3%***3.1%***1.5%***
East Drumore township1.4%2.2%***0.7%***2.2%***
East Earl township1.0%0.6%***4.8%***4.3%***
East Hempfield township1.4%2.1%***1.5%***1.9%***
East Lampeter township1.3%3.3%**3.1%**3.3%***
Eden township0.9%0.4%***1.7%***0.0%***
Elizabeth township0.7%0.0%***1.2%***0.5%***
Ephrata township0.2%0.8%***2.6%***0.4%***
Fulton township1.1%2.0%***3.4%***9.2%***
Lancaster township2.4%2.5%***3.7%**2.5%***
Leacock township1.8%0.0%***5.1%***0.0%***
Little Britain township1.9%4.1%***3.1%***0.6%***
Manheim township0.6%0.8%***2.2%**2.3%***
Manor township0.8%1.5%***2.3%**3.6%***
Martic township0.3%1.3%***2.1%***1.0%***
Mount Joy township2.0%0.9%***0.4%***1.3%***
Paradise township1.3%0.6%***2.9%***3.1%***
Penn township1.3%1.0%***0.2%***0.4%***
Pequea township0.6%1.3%***2.3%***3.8%***
Providence township0.9%1.6%***3.2%***3.9%***
Rapho township1.3%0.7%***2.6%***1.7%***
Sadsbury township0.5%0.7%***2.8%***5.8%***
Salisbury township1.3%2.9%***0.5%***0.6%***
Strasburg township0.6%1.4%***1.3%***2.9%***
Upper Leacock township0.9%1.8%***1.5%***4.2%**
Warwick township0.5%1.5%***2.6%***1.4%***
West Cocalico township0.0%1.9%***0.0%***4.4%***
West Donegal township0.2%0.4%***0.9%***0.0%***
West Earl township1.0%1.7%***1.2%***2.6%***
West Hempfield township1.0%3.2%***4.2%***3.5%***
West Lampeter township0.3%1.0%***2.1%***0.6%***
Berks County2.4%3.5%2.7%3.4%
Chester County1.2%1.4%1.5%1.9%
Cumberland County1.2%1.6%1.8%1.9%
Dauphin County2.6%3.0%3.3%3.1%
Lebanon County1.8%3.0%2.9%3.1%*
York County1.5%2.3%2.7%2.7%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Notes: Multiyear results are from rolling American Community Survey. * Margin of error between 20% & 35% of estimate; ** margin of error between 35% & 50%; *** margin of error greater than 50%.




Number of Households Receiving Temporary Assistance
20002007-112012-162017-21
Pennsylvania149,203166,959168,007169,145
Lancaster County3,0734,9366,3706,115
Lancaster City1,4002,0431,9371,660
Lancaster County Boroughs
Adamstown borough420***12***17***
Akron borough1842***0***48***
Christiana borough73***12***13***
Columbia borough128144**267**216**
Denver township1096**18***49***
East Petersburg borough026***63***83***
Elizabethtown borough4771***94***96***
Ephrata borough80106***213**181***
Lititz borough54133***82***138***
Manheim borough4725***130***89***
Marietta borough137***52***55***
Millersville borough1956***52***114***
Mount Joy borough5238***152***36***
Mountville borough1916***0***77***
New Holland borough2443***93***88***
Quarryville borough417***17***21***
Strasburg borough011***8***39***
Terre Hill borough23***0***8***
Lancaster County Townships
Bart township210***0***0***
Brecknock township2977***89***0***
Caernarvon township514***9***10***
Clay township1140***53***23***
Colerain township40***0***16***
Conestoga township3219***73***101***
Conoy township1113***65***28***
Drumore township118***24***21***
Earl township2712***16***35***
East Cocalico township3859***158***37***
East Donegal township109***84***47***
East Drumore township1527***9***32***
East Earl township1811***93***104***
East Hempfield township123194***146***217***
East Lampeter township71212**191**206***
Eden township53***10***0***
Elizabeth township90***17***8***
Ephrata township627***94***17***
Fulton township1023***32***78***
Lancaster township139171***247**188***
Leacock township260***88***0***
Little Britain township2148***43***9***
Manheim township83121***345**407***
Manor township50120***189**314***
Martic township624***41***19***
Mount Joy township5834***14***51***
Paradise township2010***48***56***
Penn township3334***8***15***
Pequea township1023***42***80***
Providence township2140***94***101***
Rapho township4127***116***86***
Sadsbury township47***25***57***
Salisbury township3892***15***18***
Strasburg township718***16***39***
Upper Leacock township2453***43***124**
Warwick township2796***173***103***
West Cocalico township046***0***110***
West Donegal township614***28***0***
West Earl township2246***31***73***
West Hempfield township54192***263***216***
West Lampeter township1862***136***41***
Berks County3,3465,3344,0925,420
Chester County1,9352,4722,7463,753
Cumberland County1,0281,5211,7791,918
Dauphin County2,7143,2693,5983,617
Lebanon County8561,5471,5271,707*
York County2,2563,8064,4534,797

Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Notes: Multiyear results are from rolling American Community Survey. * Margin of error between 20% & 35% of estimate; ** margin of error between 35% & 50%; *** margin of error greater than 50%.




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