Hunger Quick Facts
- More than 37 million Americans live in households that struggle against hunger.
- Households in rural areas are experiencing considerably deeper struggles with hunger compared to those in metro areas, with higher rates of food insecurity overall (12.7 percent compared to 10.8 percent), and higher rates of very low food security (4.8 percent compared to 4.2 percent).
- Nearly one in seven households with children cannot buy enough food for their families.
- The food insecurity rate for households with children (13.9 percent) is two-fifths higher than the rate for households without children (9.9 percent).
- The rates of food insecurity were much higher for households headed by African Americans (21.2 percent — two and a half times the rate for white non-Hispanic households) and Hispanics (16.2 percent — two times the rate for white non-Hispanic households).
- The food insecurity rate is highest in the South, followed by the Midwest, West, and Northeast.
- The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably by state, ranging from 7.8 percent in New Hampshire to 16.8 percent in New Mexico (for the three-year period of 2016–2018). Even in the best performing states, 1 in 13 households was food insecure.
USDA released its latest food insecurity report on September 4. See FRAC’s statement: Food Insecurity Data Show the Need for More Robust Anti-Hunger Efforts, Not Ill-Considered Policies That Increase Hunger.
Food Insecurity Maps and Tables
Want to learn more about food insecurity in your state? Explore FRAC’s interactive maps and tables to find the most recent household food insecurity rates in your state. Scroll over your state to view the percent of households struggling with food insecurity or very low food security. Engage with FRAC’s interactive, searchable tables to see the change in household food insecurity rates over time.
Poverty Quick Facts
- 38.1 million people (11.8 percent) lived in poverty in 2018, down from 12.3 percent in 2017.
- More than 16 percent of children (11.9 million) lived in poverty in 2018.
- The 2018 poverty rate was much higher for African Americans (20.8 percent) and Hispanics (17.6 percent) than for whites (8.1 percent).
- SNAP lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty, school lunches lifted 1.4 million out of poverty, and WIC lifted 302,000 people out of poverty in 2018.
The Census Bureau released its latest report on income, poverty, and health insurance on September 10. See FRAC’s statement: Millions of Americans Continue to Struggle Against Poverty.
The Census Bureau released its American Community Survey Poverty Rates by State 2018 in September. See FRAC’s interactive maps and tables.
Who is impacted by hunger?
Veterans Have Fought for Our Country — They Shouldn’t Have to Fight Against Hunger
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Report Finds that More Americans, Particularly Children, are at Risk of Hunger
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Screen and Intervene: Addressing Food Insecurity Among Older Adults
New online course from FRAC and AARP
Addressing Food Insecurity: A Toolkit for Pediatricians
Find out more
Find Solutions to Hunger in FRAC's A Plan of Action To End Hunger in America
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Nearly 9 million people age 50+ are threatened by hunger every day.
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Despite an improving economy, millions of families still struggle with hunger in every community, and every state.
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Poverty, hunger, and food insecurity disproportionately affect Americans who have communicative, mental, or physical disabilities.
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Certain jobless adults without dependents have time limits on their receipt of SNAP benefits despite their willingness to work.
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Solutions Exist to End Hunger & Poverty
Hunger in America is a serious issue that requires a serious response. When there is talk about improving opportunities for all Americans through education, health care, and the economy, addressing hunger and poverty must be a part of that conversation.
Education
The last thing on a hungry child’s mind is learning. Children are better equipped to learn when they have the nutrition they need. Yet too many low-income children who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals are not accessing them. More must be done to increase participation in school meals, summers meals, afterschool meals, and child care meals.
Health care
Research shows that food insecurity is linked with costly chronic diseases and unfavorable outcomes. According to the Root Cause Coalition, the annual costs of hunger to the U.S. health care system are $130.5 billion. Greater investments in nutrition programs would go a long way in addressing obesity and other negative health outcomes faced by low-income Americans.
Economy
SNAP serves as the first line of defense against hunger for millions of Americans. The program also stimulates the economy. Recent census data shows that SNAP lifted 3.6 million people out of poverty in 2016. In addition, USDA research shows that each $5 of SNAP benefits generates nearly twice that in economic activity. Federal nutrition programs can’t do it alone. There must be a comprehensive approach.Recent Publications & Data
See More Resources- Fact Sheet
The Caregivers Access and Responsible Expansion (CARE) for Kids Act of 2019 (S. 2760), introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), will help support children who are being raised by grandparents or relatives other than their parents by ensuring automatic access to free school meals.
Read more - Fact Sheet
The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program offers an exciting opportunity to reduce summer hunger by providing additional resources to purchase food during the summer months for families whose children are certified to receive free or reduced-price school meals during the school year. Summer EBT is a complement to the Summer Nutrition Programs (which support summer meal programs in low-income communities that are frequently combined with educational, enrichment, and recreational activities) and can help reduce food insecurity for low-income families, particularly in rural or other areas with limited access to summer meals.
Find out more - Fact Sheet
Most school districts can take additional steps to increase the number of students they certify to receive free school meals without submitting a school meal application. This improves the financial viability of implementing community eligibility, reduces administrative work for the district, and ensures that the most vulnerable students are able to receive free school breakfast and lunch.
Find out more - Toolkit
According to our new report, Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation, on an average day in October 2018, the Afterschool Nutrition Programs provided suppers to 1.3 million children (a 10.4 percent increase from October 2017) and snacks to 1.5 million children.
FRAC has developed a communications toolkit to help you spread the word about the promising growth in afterschool nutrition participation — alongside strategies for making even more progress. The toolkit includes our new report, our national news release, a sample news release, sample social media, and graphics.
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