Rural Hunger

Rates of food insecurity, the statistical measurement of hunger or near hunger, among rural households is generally lower than urban households, but slightly higher than the national average. The irony is that many of these food-insecure households are in the very rural and farm communities whose productivity feeds the world and provides low-cost wholesome food for American consumers. 

• Challenges facing rural areas differ from metro/urban areas in several significant ways[i]:
• Employment is more concentrated in low-wage industries;
• Unemployment and underemployment are greater;
• Education levels are lower;
• Work-support services, such as flexible and affordable child care and public transportation, are less available;
• The rural marketplace offers less access to communication and transportation networks[ii]; and
• Offers companies less access to activities that foster administration, research and development.
• The fact that so many people need to turn to a food bank or church pantry just to eat in the very same communities where the food is raised is a sad reminder of how much more needs to be done.

Rural Hunger Facts

• Nearly 29 percent of households served by Feeding America in non-metropolitan areas reported that their children often or sometimes did not eat enough during the past year because there was not enough money to buy food.[iii]
• 11.7% of rural households are food insecure, an estimated 2.2 million households[iv].
• Compared to all regions, the South continues to have the highest poverty rate (under 100 percent of poverty) among people in families with related children under 18 years living outside metro statistical areas (23.8 percent) and inside metro statistical areas (15.5 percent)[v].
• Among all people in families with related children under 18 years with a female head of household, 47.3 percent lived outside metro statistical areas compared to 29.9 percent outside principal cities.

 

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