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)

Close to Home

DC, Maryland, and Virginia

  • 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)

Massachusetts

  • 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

  • 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)

California

  • 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).

Florida

  • 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).