ERS Study Looks At Food Insecurity Nationwide

Earlier this week, USDA Economic Research Service released data showing food insecurity rates across the U.S. The estimated prevalence of food insecurity between 2018–2020 nationwide was 10.7%. Food-insecure households are defined as those that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. The lowest food insecurity rate was reported in New Hampshire at 5.7% while, Mississippi recorded the highest rate of food insecurity at 15.3%.

As far as the Pacific Northwest states are concerned, Idaho reported the highest food insecurity rate at 9.6%, while Oregon came in at 9.2% and Washington reported 8.8%.

USDA monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and state levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau survey. State-level estimates are then obtained by averaging three years of data to generate more reliable statistics. State food insecurity rates vary because of state-level characteristics such as population, policies, and economic conditions.

Click Here to read the entire ERS report.

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