Food Insecurity by state

10% of adults in the U.S. – 16% in DC, LA, MS, and AK – reported their households went hungry in December.

Food insecurity, Dec 1-13, 2021

Percentage of adults who report their household sometimes or often went hungry in the last 7 days

Source: Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey

Putting food on the table became an even more acute problem in 2020 as low-wage workers suffered heavy job losses.¹ In December, 1 in 10 adults reported their household didn’t have enough to eat. Food insecurity was even more severe in AK, LA, MS, and D.C. where more than 15% of adults reported not being able to put food on the table. Job losses were particularly severe for Black and Hispanic households, and families with children.² In addition, Black and Hispanic families struggled to access food due to lack of access to grocery stores, and lack of access to vehicles needed to reach the drive-thru pantries established to safely distribute food.^2,3 In 2021, inflation became an increasing concern, with grocery prices rising 6.5% between December 2020 and December 2021.⁴ Food prices are expected to continue to rise in 2022, albeit at a slower rate than in 2021.⁵

1. “Low-wage, low-hour workers were hit hardest in the COVID-19 recession”. Gould, Kassa. Economic Policy Institute. May, 2021. https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-2020-employment-report/

2. “Current and Future Food Insufficiency During Covid-19: Examining Disparities by Race/Ethnicity and Recent Work Loss”. Altman, Dondero, Heflin, and Nusbaum. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. July, 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8324432/

3. “How do drive-thru food pantries work?” Morello. Feeding America. September, 2020. https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-blog/how-do-drive-thru-food-pantries-work

4. “Consumer Price Index Summary”. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. January, 2022. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 5. “USDA: Food inflation to cool in 2022”. Karst. AGWeb. December, 2021. https://www.agweb.com/news/policy/politics/usda-food-inflation-cool-2022#:~:text=The%20USDA%20said%20the% 20CPI,higher%20than%20in%20November%202020.