In July, 4,908 people in Lee County received SNAP food benefits. By The Lee Daily Register’s calculation, that is about 23 for every 100 residents, compared with about 8 for every 100 across Virginia. The county’s count is also down 12.7% from July 2024, when it was 5,619, according to monthly participation reports from the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS).
The state files we used list raw counts only. To make Lee comparable with its neighbors, we divided each count by the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 population estimates (Lee 21,642, Scott 21,200, Wise 34,824, Virginia 8,880,107). The same population is used for every year, so only the enrollment figures change from column to column. The per-capita rates throughout this story are ours, not the state’s.
SNAP: more than one in five residents, and fewer since fall
As of October 31, July 2026 is the latest month on VDSS’s SNAP page. The table uses the “persons” total in each July report, July 2026, July 2025 and July 2024.
| Locality | July 2024 | July 2025 | July 2026 | Change, 2 years | Per 1,000 residents, July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee County | 5,619 | 5,402 | 4,908 | -12.7% | 227 |
| Scott County | 3,834 | 3,737 | 3,595 | -6.2% | 170 |
| Wise County | 8,113 | 8,164 | 7,362 | -9.3% | 211 |
| Virginia | 882,023 | 863,138 | 740,660 | -16.0% | 83 |
Lee’s rate was about 260 per 1,000 residents in July 2024. The drop came late in the period. Lee’s monthly count held between 5,402 and 5,420 from July through September 2025, then slid to 4,987 by February 2026. That was 433 of the 512 people Lee lost between September and July. From March through June, the count stayed between 4,943 and 5,019. Virginia as a whole followed a similar path, falling from 854,169 in September to 764,156 in February.
The reports do not say why cases closed, so the numbers alone cannot show the cause. VDSS says on its own page that recent changes to federal law expanded the number of SNAP customers who must meet work requirements, which means at least 80 hours a month of work, training, education or volunteering. The agency adds that the rules apply in every state. The reports’ issuance total for Lee was $747,634 in July, down 12.5% from $854,736 a year earlier.
Medicaid and FAMIS: about 41 enrollees for every 100 residents
The state’s Medicaid agency, the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), publishes locality counts only through an interactive enrollment dashboard. We read Lee, Scott, Wise and the state total from it for each date below. The dashboard’s list of reporting periods begins on October 1, 2025, so a one-year comparison is the longest it allows.
| Locality | Oct. 1, 2025 | Oct. 1, 2026 | Change | Per 1,000 residents, Oct. 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee County | 9,393 | 8,772 | -6.6% | 405 |
| Scott County | 6,566 | 6,272 | -4.5% | 296 |
| Wise County | 14,145 | 13,647 | -3.5% | 392 |
| Virginia | 1,874,863 | 1,764,335 | -5.9% | 199 |
Lee’s count fell by 621 in a year, and its rate is still about twice the statewide figure. The dashboard’s latest period, October 15, 2026, shows 8,717 in Lee. We left every filter on “All,” so the totals include limited-benefit groups such as family planning. A footnote says county data are not shown for places with fewer than 20,000 residents, which is why Norton city appears only as an asterisk. Lee clears that line, by the Census estimate.
One caution on the state figure. DMAS’s separate monthly enrollment report lists 1,724,025 enrollees statewide for October 2026, below the dashboard’s total. We could not establish why the two differ, so the dashboard is used only for like-for-like comparisons here.
TANF: a small program with a steep drop
TANF, which gives qualifying families monthly cash help, is far smaller than the other two programs. VDSS posts monthly payments by locality, and its TANF data page listed February 2026 as the latest month as of October 31. Lee had 108 cases covering 235 people in February 2026, down from 130 cases and 283 people in February 2025. That is a 17.0% drop in people, compared with 19.0% for Virginia, 12.0% for Scott and 6.2% for Wise. The average grant in Lee was $388 per case in February. That is the largest percentage drop of the three programs in Lee, though each one covers a different stretch of time.
Per 1,000 residents, Lee’s February rate was 10.9, against 5.5 in Scott, 7.8 in Wise and 3.2 statewide. We used the state’s “combined” figure, which adds TANF and TANF-UP.
Reading the numbers, and where to get help
These counts are not additive, because one person can be in two programs at once. They also measure people on the rolls, not the number who are eligible, so they cannot show who qualifies and is not enrolled. The comparison dates also differ by program because the latest data posted for each one run through different months.
Residents who want to apply, renew or report a change can do so through CommonHelp, according to the Lee County Department of Social Services website. The office lists a phone number of (276) 346-1010.
