Benefits.gov (formerly GovBenefits.gov) was launched by the U.S. Department of Labor in April 2002, as a website designed to provide American citizens with access to government benefit eligibility information. Benefits.gov helps citizens determine their potential eligibility for more than 1,000 government-funded benefit and assistance programs. Visitors can complete an on-line questionnaire, and Benefits.gov matches benefit programs with their needs and provides information on how to apply.

Benefits.gov includes information on a variety of benefit and assistance programs for veterans, seniors, students, teachers, children, people with disabilities, dependents, disaster victims, farmers, caregivers, job seekers, prospective homeowners, and more.

• People served: over 220 million people (as of Aug 2024)^[1]
• Referrals to partner agencies: 32 million
• Average monthly visitors: 1.1 - 1.3 million
• Benefits provided: over 1,100 (as of Aug 2024)^[1]

At the end of September 2024, the website was shut down and replaced by benefits subpages found on the websites USA.gov and USAGov en Español.^[1] This was a result of Executive Order 14058 by President Biden in 2021, which directed the General Services Administration to “develop a roadmap for a redesigned USA.gov website that aims to serve as a centralized, digital ‘Federal Front Door’ from which customers may navigate to all Government benefits, services, and programs, and features streamlined content, processes, and technologies that use human-centered design to meet customer needs, including consolidating content currently appearing on Benefits.gov, Grants.gov, and other appropriate websites […]^[2]”

Key features include:^[1]

• A centralized, singular, user-friendly location to access benefits information.
• A search engine called Benefit Finder that helps users locate benefits programs and determine eligibility.
• Category-based navigation organized by type and “life events”.

However, there was some opposition to the new design. The first Federal Chief Information Officer, Mark Forman, told Nextgov/FCW that “A big focus for the original design was finding what you needed within 3 clicks or less […] noting that he was skeptical of USA.gov's new focus on ‘life events’ as a way to organize parts of the website.”^[3]

Govloans.gov, the sister site of benefits.gov, was launched in 2004, and provides information about government loan programs. Govloans.gov features information about loans for:

• Housing
• Education
• Agriculture
• Small business
• Veterans
• Disaster relief

• The Facts About the President's Management Agenda. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/agenda/PMA-MythFact20061003.html
• Computerworld Honors Program Case Study, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927104323/http://www.cwheroes.org/case_studies/USDepartmentofLabor.pdf
• Benefits.gov and GovLoans.gov are both available in English and in Spanish. Benefits.gov en Español and GovLoans en Español offer Spanish-speaking communities greater access to benefit information.

• Benefits.gov
• USA.gov, government benefits subpage