Food Insecurity In America

From the archive: originally published on News, in Data in December 2015. The text and charts appear as they ran then.

More than 14% of Americans Lack Consistent Access to Food

Access To Food Is Not Growing For America's Poor

In a study released Sept 2015, the US Department Of Agriculture painted a picture of the American poor's access to food. The report found that food insecurity rates remain near all-time highs, 14.05% in 2014 versus 14.94% in 2011, since reporting began in 1992. More than 14% of US households (17.4 million) lack food security, that is 'consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year'. More startling is the fact that 5.6% of households are classified as 'very low food security', meaning households in which at least one member of the household was hungry at times during the year because they couldn't afford food.

This figure reports the number of households in the US that are food insecure or that have very low food security, from 1995-2014.  The median household income in the US is also reported from 1995-2014.

Very Low Food Security

Since 1992 when very low food security marked its lowest point at 2.99%, the number of households with one or more members that experience hunger marked by ''the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food' has steadily increased. In 6 of the last 7 years, 5.5% of households have been classified as very low food security, in 2014 that's 6.9 million households with hunger in America.

Source Data

Southern Households Are Hungrier

From a low of 8.4% of South Dakota households to a high of 22% of the homes in Mississippi, the last figure shows the prevalence of food insecurity by state. Again, food insecurity refers to households that lack consistent access to adequate food due to limited money or resources.