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Since 2011, Feeding America has produced Map the Meal Gap and provided estimates of local food insecurity and food costs to improve our understanding of people and places facing hunger and inform decisions that will help ensure equitable access to nutritious food for all. Our interactive map features annual food insecurity estimates for all individuals and children, as well as older adults and seniors, at the state level and below.

To achieve our vision of an America where no one is hungry, we believe it is imperative to address disparities in food insecurity by race as well as place. To that end, the map now includes estimated food insecurity by race and ethnicity for select populations and places. Recognizing that sample sizes are smaller, and uncertainty is greater the more we disaggregate data, we believe that understanding even broad historical variations within and across local communities is critical. Only then can we develop effective strategies to address the root causes of food insecurity and change the systems, policies and practices that put people at risk of hunger.

To learn more, you can read our report, review our methodology and even download our data.

Food Insecurity among the Overall Population in the United States

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  1. The United States
“Overall” refers to all individuals, including children, regardless of race or ethnicity
Food Insecurity Rates
No Data
0-13.0%
13.1-26.0%
26.1-39.0%
39.1-52.0%
52.1-65%
Data for this population are unavailable.
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2022 Overall Food Insecurity in The United States

Food Insecure Population in The United States

44,151,000

Food insecurity rate in The United States

13.5%

Estimated Program Eligibility Among Food Insecure People in The United States

36%
Above SNAP threshold
16%
Between 130%-185% poverty
48%
Below SNAP threshold of 130%

Average meal cost in The United States

$3.99

ANNUAL FOOD BUDGET SHORTFALL

$33,119,578,000

Map the Meal Gap is made possible by funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation and by in-kind support in the form of local food price data from NielsenIQ. Senior hunger estimates are made possible by funding from the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation. We are grateful for the continued partnership with Futureman Digital to design and continue developing the interactive map. We are also grateful for contributions from members of Feeding America’s Technical Advisory Group, Feeding America National Office staff and by We All Count.

Note: Our local estimates of food insecurity for congressional districts and states for 2020 are not directly comparable to estimates for other years. This is because, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection in 2020, the Census Bureau released 5-year (2016-2020) American Community Survey (ACS) data for congressional districts instead of the traditional 1-year estimates that we’ve historically used to estimate district and state food insecurity. District and state estimates of food insecurity for 2020 can, however, be used to make comparisons across similar geographies (e.g., District A to District B in 2020). Users interested in comparing estimated food insecurity for individual districts or states over time are encouraged to compare our most recent data for 2021 to data from 2019 and/or 2018. If you have questions about the comparability of our data over time or across populations or places, please contact research@feedingamerica.org.