Privacy Policy

US State Benefits ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website usstatebenefits.com (the "Site"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our Site.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We do not sell your personal information to third parties. Our benefits calculator and eligibility tools are designed to be anonymous — we do not require you to create an account or provide personal information to use them.

a) Information You Provide Voluntarily

• Contact form submissions: If you contact us via our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and message content.
• Newsletter subscriptions: If you subscribe to our email newsletter, we collect your email address.
• Benefits calculator inputs: Our calculator collects household size, income range, state, and family situation inputs. This data is processed in your browser and is not stored or transmitted to our servers.

b) Information Collected Automatically

• Log data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, and time spent on pages.
• Device information: Device type, screen resolution, and browser settings.
• Location data: General geographic location derived from your IP address (city/state level only, not precise location).
• Cookies and similar technologies: See Section 4 for details.

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate and improve the Site and its content
• Respond to your questions and contact form submissions
• Send our email newsletter (only if you subscribed)
• Analyze site usage to understand which content is most helpful
• Display relevant advertising through Google AdSense
• Track affiliate link performance to understand which partner services our readers find valuable
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not use your information to make automated decisions that affect your access to government benefits. We are an informational resource, not a government agency.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: Required for basic site functionality. Cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies (Google Analytics): Help us understand how visitors use the Site. We use Google Analytics 4. You can opt out at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
• Advertising cookies (Google AdSense): Used to serve relevant ads. See Section 6.
• Affiliate tracking cookies: Set when you click affiliate links (Chime, eHealth, CitizenPath, etc.) to credit us with any resulting commissions. These cookies are set by the affiliate networks (Impact.com, CJ Affiliate) and governed by their privacy policies.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality.

Our Site contains affiliate links to third-party services. When you click these links, you will be directed to the third party's website, and they may collect information about you according to their own privacy policies. We earn a commission if you sign up or make a purchase — at no cost to you.

Current affiliate partners include:

• Chime (banking) — through Impact.com
• Varo Bank — through Impact.com
• eHealth Insurance — through Impact.com
• CitizenPath (immigration forms) — direct program
• Self Financial (credit building) — through Impact.com
• Lifeline phone providers — through Impact.com
• TurboTax (tax filing) — through CJ Affiliate
• Babbel (language learning) — through Impact.com

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our Site. Google uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our Site and other sites on the internet.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our Site and/or other sites on the internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.

For more information on how Google uses data when you use our Site, visit How Google uses data from sites that use our services.

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use third-party services (Google Analytics, email hosting) that process data on our behalf under data processing agreements.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or government authority.
• Business transfers: If the Site is acquired or merged, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of information we hold about you.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information.
• Opt-out of marketing: Unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the link in any email.
• Opt-out of analytics: Use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• California residents (CCPA): You have the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete, and the right to opt-out of sale (we do not sell data). Contact us to exercise these rights.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address in Section 12.

Our Site is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, secure hosting, and access controls to protect your information. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Our benefits calculator processes all inputs locally in your browser. This data is never transmitted to our servers.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the Site after changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise your privacy rights, or need to report a concern, please contact us: