Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

National School Lunch Program

Program Information

Popular name

School Lunch

Program Number

10.555

Program objective

To assist States, through cash grants and food donations, in providing a nutritious nonprofit lunch service for school children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities.

Program expenditures, by FY (2023 - 2025)

This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.

For more information on each of these data sources, please see the About the data page.

Additional program information

  1. 2016

    Current estimate for FY 2016 is 5.43 billion lunches and snacks served. In FY 2016, 5.26 billion lunches and snacks were served in the NSLP, slightly more than the 5.23 billion served in FY 2015.

  2. 2017

    5.26 billion lunches and snacks served.

  3. 2021

    The total number of school lunches and snacks served was 1.63 billion.

  4. 2022

    The total number of school lunches and snacks served is estimated to be 5.24 billion.

  5. 2023

    The total number of school lunches and snacks served was 4.82 billion.

  6. 2024

    The anticipated total number of school lunches and snacks served is 4.72 billion

Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):

For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.

OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.

Program regulations on operational requirements are codified at 7 CFR Parts 210, and 7 CFR 245 for free and reduced price meal eligibility. Other information is on the FNS Web site at https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp