FOOD INSECURITY

The Basics

Food insecurity means not having reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. It looks different from house to house: skipped meals, smaller portions, or constantly worrying about whether there will be enough. Every county in the United States is home to someone who is food insecure. (USDA, 2024).

  • 13.7% of U.S. households, about 18.3 million households, faced food insecurity in 2024. (USDA)

  • Feeding America estimates 47.4 million people, 14.3% of the population, live in food-insecure households. (Feeding America, 2025)

  • 1 in 5 children live in a food-insecure household. (Feeding America)

  • Nearly half of food-insecure people, about 44%, don't qualify for SNAP or similar programs, which is why community organizations matter like Families4Families. (Feeding America)

Who Is Affected Most?

Black households (21.0%) and Hispanic households (16.9%) face food insecurity at roughly twice the rate of White households (8.0%); American Indian and Alaska Native households face the highest rate, 23.3%. (USDA)

39.4% of households below the federal poverty line are food insecure. (USDA)

31.6% of single-mother households face food insecurity, far above married-couple households with children. (USDA)

Food-insecure seniors are 53% more likely to report a heart attack and 52% more likely to develop asthma than food-secure seniors. (Feeding America)

Food Deserts

A food desert is an area where residents, especially low-income residents, live too far from a full-service grocery store: more than half a mile in a city, more than ten miles in the country. About 19 million people, roughly 6% of the U.S. population, live in one, and every state has them. (Congressional Research Service)

Food deserts are related to, but different from, food swamps (areas flooded with fast food and convenience stores) and food apartheid, a term that points to the historical redlining and disinvestment behind today's unequal food access.

Federal Assistance Programs: SNAP

What Is SNAP?

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is the country's largest anti-hunger program. It began as a small pilot in 1939, became permanent under the Food Stamp Act of 1964, and was renamed SNAP in 2008. Participation hit a record 47.6 million people in 2013 during the recovery from the Great Recession. (USDA)

How SNAP Is Changing:

On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) became law, cutting SNAP funding by about $186 billion over ten years, the largest cut in the program's history. (CBPP)

Work requirements

•       The age range subject to work requirements grew from 18 to 54, to 18 to 64. (USDA)

•       The exemption for parents narrowed from kids under 18 to kids under 14.

•       Exemptions added in 2023 for homeless individuals, veterans, and youth aging out of foster care were removed.

New costs for states

  • Starting FY2027, the federal government's share of states' administrative costs drops from 50% to 25%. (CBPP)

  • Starting FY2028, states must also pay a share of benefit costs based on their payment error rate, the first time in SNAP's history. 41 states plus DC face some new cost exposure.

The result, so far

  • SNAP enrollment fell more than 4.5 million people (nearly 11%) nationwide between July 2025 and April 2026, the steepest short-term drop in almost three decades. (CBPP)

  • More than 1 million children have already lost benefits; the true national number is likely above 1.5 million. (CBPP)

  • Over 27,000 grocery retailers in mostly rural counties are at heightened financial risk. (CAP)

Food Insecurity Close to Home

    • Child food insecurity rates vary across the region, with 14.7% in DC, 16.1% in Maryland, and 14% in Virginia (2023). (Feeding America)

    • Among the region's food-insecure households with children, 81% relied on a limited number of low-cost foods to get by, and 40% said they couldn't feed their children adequately because of a lack of money. (Capital Area Food Bank, 2025 Hunger Report)

    • Black and Hispanic households in the DMV region face disproportionately higher rates of food insecurity than white households. (Capital Area Food Bank)

    • Food-insecure residents in the region report chronic health conditions at markedly higher rates than food-secure residents: mental health disorders (28% vs. 19%), diabetes (15% vs. 11%), and stroke (3% vs. 1%). (Capital Area Food Bank)

    • 36% of households across the DC region faced food insecurity in 2025, and the most severe cases rose to 22% of food-insecure households, up from 16% in 2022. (Capital Area Food Bank)

    • About 50,000 families in the region, over 10% of current SNAP recipients here, are projected to lose an average of $187 a month, about 40 meals, once OBBBA is fully phased in. (Capital Area Food Bank)

    • About 693,000 Marylanders, 1 in 9 residents, rely on SNAP; the program put $1.5 billion into the state's economy in 2024. (CBPP)

    • In Montgomery County, home to several F4F chapters, about 69,369 residents receive SNAP and 43.1% of public school students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. (Maryland Hunger Solutions)

    • A statewide study released in April 2026 found that 40% of Massachusetts households, about 1.1 million, experienced food insecurity in 2025 — more than double the rate in 2019, and up from 37% in 2024. (Greater Boston Food Bank / Mass General Brigham)

    • Child food insecurity in Massachusetts reached 37% in 2025, up from 33% the year before. (Greater Boston Food Bank)

    • Food insecurity by race and identity in Massachusetts: 63% of Hispanic households, 58% of LGBTQ+ households, and 51% of Black households reported food insecurity. (Greater Boston Food Bank)

    • Nearly 6 in 10 children in food-insecure Massachusetts households have a chronic health condition, compared with 39% of children in food-secure households; researchers estimate food insecurity drives roughly $1.6 billion a year in added healthcare spending statewide. (Greater Boston Food Bank)

    • 11.5% of Massachusetts households faced food insecurity in 2023 (Feeding America)

    • About 1,113,700 residents, 16% of the state, received SNAP in federal fiscal year 2024; more than half are in families with children. The program distributed $2.62 billion in benefits statewide in 2024, averaging $196 per household member a month (CBPP)

    • Between 2015 and 2019, SNAP lifted an average of 119,000 Massachusetts residents, including 41,000 children, above the poverty line each year. Massachusetts' fiscal year 2025 SNAP payment error rate, 12.49%, puts it in the top, 15%, cost-share tier under OBBBA's new rules — an estimated $350 million in new state costs once fully phased in (CBPP).

    • North Carolina's child food insecurity rate was 18.9% in 2023. (Feeding America)

    • Food insecurity varies widely by county, from 7.6% in Union County to 18.0% in Robeson County; only 11% of North Carolina's counties have rates below 10%. (ncIMPACT Initiative, UNC School of Government)

    • Rural North Carolina counties tend to see higher food insecurity than urban or suburban ones, driven by limited transportation and grocery access. (ncIMPACT Initiative)

    • 15% of North Carolina households faced food insecurity in 2023 (Feeding America)

    • About 1,415,600 residents, roughly 1 in 8 North Carolinians, received SNAP in federal fiscal year 2024; more than 66% are in families with children. The program distributed $2.94 billion in benefits statewide in 2024, averaging $173 per household member a month (CBPP)

    • Between 2015 and 2019, SNAP lifted an average of 238,000 North Carolinians, including 101,000 children, above the poverty line each year. North Carolina's fiscal year 2025 SNAP payment error rate, 7.36%, puts it in a 5% cost-share tier under OBBBA's new rules — an estimated $140 million in new state costs, on top of a state budget change that raises North Carolina's own share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 75% (CBPP)

    • Florida's 14.4% food insecurity rate translates to roughly 3.2 million residents statewide. (WFLX / Feeding America)

    • Florida's child food insecurity rate was 18.4% in 2023. (Feeding America)

    • Food insecurity varies by county even within the same region — from 12.8% in Palm Beach County to 17% in Okeechobee County, among counties recently studied in South Florida. (WFLX)

    • 14.4% of Florida households faced food insecurity in 2023 (Feeding America)

    • About 2,969,000 residents, 13% of the state, received SNAP in federal fiscal year 2024; more than 59% are in families with children. The program distributed $6.64 billion in benefits statewide in 2024, averaging $186 per household member a month (CBPP)

    • Between 2015 and 2019, SNAP lifted an average of 477,000 Floridians, including 224,000 children, above the poverty line each year. Florida's fiscal year 2025 SNAP payment error rate, 12.97%, puts it in the top, 15%, cost-share tier under OBBBA's new rules — an estimated $900 million in new state costs once fully phased in (CBPP)

    • More than 1 in 5 Californians, about 8.8 million people, struggle with food insecurity; among households with children, that rate rises to roughly 27%. (California Association of Food Banks)

    • California's child food insecurity rate was 16.9% in 2023, per Feeding America's separate national model. (Feeding America)

    • Black and Hispanic/Latine Californians experience food insecurity at much higher rates than white Californians. (California Association of Food Banks)

    • California's food banks distributed almost 900 million pounds of food in 2023 alone. (California Association of Food Banks)

    • 13.7% of California households faced food insecurity in 2023 (Feeding America)

    • About 5.38 million residents, 1 in 7 Californians, received SNAP in federal fiscal year 2024; more than 55% are in families with children. The program distributed $12.22 billion in benefits statewide in 2024, averaging $189 per household member a month (CBPP)

    • Between 2015 and 2019, SNAP lifted an average of 711,000 Californians, including 347,000 children, above the poverty line each year. California's fiscal year 2025 SNAP payment error rate, 10.93%, puts it in the top, 15%, cost-share tier under OBBBA's new rules — the largest dollar exposure of any state here, an estimated $1.9 billion in new costs once fully phased in (CBPP)

What Our Partners Are Seeing

F4F surveyed partner organizations in July 2026. Here's what they're telling us:

Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors in Need (Charlotte, NC)

Since partnering with F4F in November 2025, this organization has seen the number of families it serves rise 224% over the previous school year. The surge in demand has pushed it to move from occasional giving periods to weekly pantry hours, and to begin offering hygiene items for the first time, a category SNAP doesn't cover. The organization, which serves families connected to 12 area schools including students experiencing homelessness, receives no state or local funding and relies entirely on individual and corporate donations to meet the need.

Family Assistance Ministries (San Clemente, CA)

Demand across this organization's food pantries has risen 10% in just the past two months, driven in part by homeless clients who have lost their SNAP benefits and turned to the organization instead. Staff report that clients find the new SNAP paperwork confusing and difficult to navigate, and that scheduling appointments has become harder. With donations unstable and dry goods running low, the organization says its greatest need right now is more volunteers to keep pace.

Horton’s Kids (Washington, D.C.)

More than 90% of the community members Horton's Kids serves within its half-mile service radius are affected by the SNAP changes, and the organization is already seeing that need surface in requests for WEX and other work-related support tied to the new requirements. By its own account, it has only been able to keep meeting demand "through the dedication and charity of our partners," with no funding cushion of its own to fall back on.

Jubilee Jumpstart (Washington, D.C.)

This NAEYC-accredited early childhood and family support program, which feeds children two and a half meals a day, is fielding a growing number of requests for diapers and housing referrals from the families it serves. Staff describe families increasingly asking whether food is available, and say the added pressure has been "more of a drain on the partner to fill the gaps," with ripple effects reaching child care access, employment, and children's health and wellbeing.

Nourishing Bethesda (Bethesda, MD)

During the recent federal government shutdown, new client sign-ups at Nourishing Bethesda spiked to 25 to 35 a week, more than triple its typical pace of 6 to 12. The organization says it now has "hundreds of individual clients desperately seeking" help with fresh produce, job searches, and medical and child care costs, and expects to average 10 new clients a week over the coming year. Many of those clients rely on the organization's county navigator resource just to find their way to local, state, and federal aid.