Food access has two connected but distinct dimensions: whether households can consistently obtain enough food and whether nearby stores, transportation, and assistance make that possible. USDA national estimates for 2024 found that 13.7% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point during the year, while USDA access estimates based on 2019 store data identified millions of people living far from large food retailers.
In this article
- National food security baseline
- Households with children
- Household composition and older adults
- Race, income, and community disparities
- Distance to food retailers
- Transportation and store choice
- Food assistance participation
National food security baseline
The USDA Economic Research Service reported these descriptive national estimates for 2024 from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. They measure food-security status, not the physical distance to a retailer.
- 86.3% of U.S. households, or 115.7 million households, were food secure throughout 2024. (Household Food Security in the United States in 2024)
- 13.7%, or 18.3 million households, were food insecure at some time during the year. (USDA, Household Food Security in the United States in 2024)
- 8.3%, or 11.1 million households, had low food security.
- 5.4%, or 7.2 million households, had very low food security.
Income differences were substantial. Food insecurity affected 39.4% of households below the official poverty line, compared with 7.9% of households at or above 185% of the poverty line. These are 2024 household estimates; they do not by themselves identify whether a household’s difficulty came from prices, income, distance, transportation, or another factor.
Households with children
In 2024, 81.6% of U.S. households with children under 18 were food secure. The remaining 18.4%, or 6.739 million households, were food insecure. The household-level figures also show that food insecurity can be distributed unevenly within a family:
- Adults but not children were food insecure in 9.3% of households with children.
- Both children and adults were food insecure in 9.1%, or 3.3 million households.
- 0.9%, or 318,000 households, had very low food security among children.
Age and household structure were associated with different rates. Food insecurity affected 17.8% of households with children under age 6. Among married-couple households with children, the rate was 10.9%. It was 36.8% among households headed by a female with no spouse and with children.
The pattern was similar when the measure focused specifically on food-insecure children. 5.2% of married-couple households with children had food-insecure children, compared with 19.6% of female-headed households with children. These percentages describe household groups in 2024 and should not be read as individual child-level prevalence.
Household composition and older adults
Food insecurity also appeared among households without children. In 2024, 11.9% of households without children under 18 were food insecure, including 9.4% of households with more than one adult and no children.
Households containing older adults had a food-insecurity rate of 9.9%. When an adult aged 65 or older lived alone, the rate was 11.3%. Among people living alone, the reported household rates were 16.2% for women and 14.7% for men.
Very low food security was recorded in several household groups:
| Household group | Very low food security, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Married-couple households with children | 2.7% |
| Multiple-adult households with no children | 3.6% |
| Households containing an adult aged 65 or older | 3.6% |
| Households with an older adult living alone | 4.8% |
These figures come from the USDA’s 2024 household food-security estimates. They describe the household categories used in the survey and are not a direct measure of grocery-store availability.
Race, income, and community disparities
The 2024 estimates also varied by the race and ethnicity of the household reference person. Food insecurity affected 10.1% of households with a White, non-Hispanic reference person, 24.4% of households with a Black, non-Hispanic reference person, 20.2% of households with a Hispanic reference person, and 11.9% of households with an other, non-Hispanic reference person.
Very low food security was reported for 4.1% of households with a White, non-Hispanic reference person, 10.5% with a Black, non-Hispanic reference person, and 6.4% with a Hispanic reference person. The categories are those used in the cited USDA report; they should not be treated as explanations for the differences.
Community type matters in the available estimates as well. Very low food security affected 6.7% of households in principal cities in 2024. Taken together with the income and household-composition figures, the statistics show that food access challenges are not distributed evenly across household or community groups.
Distance to food retailers
Geographic retailer access is a separate measurement from food-security status. The USDA’s 2019 Large Retailer Access Map used 2010 Census population, 2014–18 American Community Survey income, and 2019 store data. These are the latest available distance-based estimates in the cited map, not measurements for 2026.
Using a threshold of more than one-half mile from an urban store or 10 miles from a rural store, the map estimated that 53.6 million people, or 17.4% of the U.S. population, lived in low-income, low-access census tracts. With a threshold of more than 1 mile from an urban store or 10 miles from a rural store, the estimate was 18.8 million people, or 6.1% of the population.
With a threshold of more than 1 mile from an urban store or 20 miles from a rural store, the estimate was 17.1 million people, or 5.6% of the population. An estimated 1.9 million households, or 1.7% of all households, were far from a supermarket and lacked a vehicle in low-income, low-access tracts. An additional 0.2 million people lived more than 20 miles from a supermarket.
The number of qualifying tracts changed modestly between 2015 and 2019. Urban low-income, low-access tracts increased from 7,905 to 7,941, while rural low-income, low-access tracts increased from 1,340 to 1,352. Urban low-access tracts increased from 24,322 to 24,362. By contrast, low-income tracts decreased from 30,870 to 30,287.
Transportation and store choice
Transportation can shape whether a store that exists on a map is realistically reachable. In the USDA’s 2019 access estimates, 8.6% of U.S. housing units did not have a vehicle. 4.0% of housing units were at least one-half mile from a store and had no vehicle. About 20% of U.S. census tracts had more than 100 housing units at least one-half mile from a supermarket and without a vehicle under the USDA’s indicator.
Access also involves the number and distribution of stores, not only the nearest one. In 2019, 3.08% of U.S. census tracts were within 5 miles of one food store but 10–20 miles from the third-nearest store. Another 0.63% were within 5 miles of one food store but more than 20 miles from the third-nearest store.
Earlier USDA estimates show that the issue changed over time in some places. From 2010 to 2015, the number of people living in U.S. low-income, low-access tracts increased by 2 million. Ohio had 301,000 more residents living in low-income, low-access tracts during that period. Because these measures use different periods and methods, they should not be combined into a single current total.
Food assistance participation
Food assistance participation offers another view of how food-insecure households may connect with support programs. In 2024, 58.9% of food-insecure households participated in SNAP, free or reduced-price school lunch, or WIC during the previous 30 days. Participation rates were 43.4% for SNAP, 29.2% for households with children receiving free or reduced-price school lunch, and 7.9% for WIC.
Among households with very low food security, 59.0% participated in at least one of the three programs during the previous 30 days. The individual reported rates were 47.3% for SNAP, 26.6% for free or reduced-price school lunch, and 6.0% for WIC.
The nonparticipation figures are also important. 41.1% of food-insecure households participated in none of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the previous 30 days. The comparable figure for households with very low food security was 41.0%.
These assistance percentages are survey-reported, and the USDA cautions that participation may be underreported. They also refer to the previous 30 days, while the food-security classification covers the household’s experience during 2024. That timing difference matters when interpreting the relationship between food insecurity and program participation.