These files contain data on social safety net index that support the results in Warner, Mildred E. and Xue Zhang. 2021. “Social Safety Nets and COVID-19 Stay Home Orders across US States: A Comparative Policy Analysis,” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 23(2): 176-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2021.1874243. For the analysis in Warner and Zhang (2021), we collected social safety net policies for 50 states in the US, including whether the state mandates paid sick leave, expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, has a state minimum wage above the Federal minimum, and the level of TANF benefit for a family of three. We ran a factor analysis on these four policies to create an index for all 50-state on their social safety net. We found that during COVID-19, states with a higher level of pre-crisis social safety net protections (paid sick leave, Medicaid expansion, higher state minimum wage, higher TANF benefit) imposed stay-at-home orders earlier and reopened later. This comparative policy research shows that providing social safety net protections is a policy complement to public health.