Find the support you need. Start with the right link.
Food, health coverage, cash assistance, housing, child care, unemployment and more. Each listing links straight to the federal program page and to the official page in your state, so you skip the look-alike sites and go to the real application.
Programs by need
Grouped the way people look for help, not the way agencies are organized. Every card opens a page with the federal link plus a state-by-state table.
Food & Nutrition
SNAP (Food Stamps)
Monthly grocery benefits on an EBT card for low-income individuals and families.
WIC (Women, Infants, and Children)
Healthy food, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children under 5.
School Lunch and Breakfast Programs
Free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch for children from low-income households at participating schools.
Health Coverage
Medicaid
Free or low-cost health coverage for low-income adults, children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program)
Low-cost health coverage for children, and some pregnant women, in families that earn too much for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.
Health Insurance Marketplace
Shop for private health plans with income-based premium subsidies for people without job-based coverage.
Medicare
Federal health insurance for people 65 and older and younger people with certain disabilities or end-stage renal disease.
Cash & Income
TANF (Cash Assistance)
Monthly cash assistance and work support for very low-income families with children.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Monthly cash payments for people 65 and older, blind, or disabled who have little income and few resources.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
Monthly benefits for workers who paid into Social Security and can no longer work because of a disability.
Housing & Utilities
LIHEAP (Energy Assistance)
Helps low-income households pay heating and cooling bills and fund energy-related home repairs.
Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
Rental vouchers that help very low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities afford housing in the private market.
Lifeline Phone and Internet Discount
A monthly discount on phone or internet service for low-income households.
Children & Families
Child Care Assistance (CCDF)
Subsidies that help low-income working families pay for child care.
Head Start
Free early learning, health, and family services for children from birth to age 5 in low-income families.
Child Support Services
Helps parents establish paternity and obtain and enforce child support orders.
Foster Care and Adoption
Resources for families considering fostering or adopting and for professionals working in child welfare.
Work & Unemployment
Unemployment Insurance
Temporary weekly cash benefits for workers who lost their job through no fault of their own.
Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit
Refundable federal tax credits that boost refunds for low- and moderate-income workers and families with children.
Free Tax Preparation (VITA/TCE)
Free in-person tax return preparation by IRS-certified volunteers for people with lower incomes, disabilities, limited English, or age 60 and over.
Seniors & Disability
Eldercare Locator
Connects older adults and caregivers to local aging services such as meals, transportation, and in-home care.
Disability Services and Rights
Information on benefits, housing, employment, and legal rights for people with disabilities.
Crisis & Mental Health
Mental Health and Substance Use Help
Confidential treatment locators and crisis support for people facing mental health or substance use challenges. In a crisis, call or text 988.
Refugee Resettlement
Cash, medical, employment, and integration services for refugees, asylees, and other eligible new arrivals.
Find your state
Each state page lists the human services agency, the online benefits portal, and the official SNAP, Medicaid, cash assistance, unemployment and child care pages.
How it works
Three steps from "I need help" to the official application.
Pick a need or a state
Search, tap a category, or choose your state on the map.
Open the official page
Every link goes to a government site or the portal it operates. Checked links carry a green mark.
Apply for free
Applying is always free on the official site. Browse without creating an account or sharing benefit details.
Why a separate directory?
Searching for “apply for food stamps” returns a wall of look-alike sites that charge for free forms, harvest personal information, or simply point back to the government page you were looking for. SafetyNet Index exists so that the first result you click is the official one.
Listings are limited to federal and state government domains and the official portals those governments use. Links undergo automated reachability checks and manual review when needed, and state listings show whether they passed the November 3, 2026 check. No one can buy a listing or change one.
Not sure which program?
USAGov Benefit Finder
Answer a few questions and the federal government's own tool lists the programs you may qualify for.
Dial 211
Free, confidential referrals to local food, housing, utility and crisis help in most of the United States.