County-Level Food Insecurity Rate

Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap, built on USDA Economic Research Service data, classifies a household as food insecure when it cannot reliably afford enough food for an active, healthy life. In 2023, 13.5% of U.S. households met that definition. That's roughly one in seven. In raw numbers it works out to tens of millions of people, including one in five children in the United States.

The jump from 10.2% in 2021 to 13.5% in 2023 is a 32% increase in two years. It tracks almost perfectly with the rollback of pandemic-era SNAP emergency allotments, which expired for most states in early 2023.

The policy change was the shock. The underlying condition — household budgets that can't absorb a grocery-price increase without something giving — was already in place. SNAP Food Stamp Enrollment remains 17% above 2019 levels even as headline unemployment stays low. The two indicators describe the same household from different angles.

Food is the most elastic line in a household budget. Rent has to be paid. The car payment has to be paid. Groceries can be cut. When The Squeeze tightens and The Buffer runs dry, this is the indicator that picks up the slack. Note: Feeding America publishes with roughly an 18-month lag, so 2024 data is not yet available.