Objectives This article addresses the role of Wal‐Mart Store entrance in changing expenditures on federal and state anti‐poverty transfers in the United States. Methods Using a panel of the conterminous 48 states, correcting for time and spatial autocorrelation and local government mix and policy changes. Results I find that the number of Wal‐Marts and their employment share in the retail sector have no impact on food stamps or AFDC/TANF expenditures. In models that account for retail employment share a 1 percent increase in the Wal‐Mart's share reduced AFDC/TANF expenditures by 3.3 percent. Conclusions I find that Wal‐Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low‐wage worker across the United States.