Millions of Americans are increasingly experiencing hunger because they live in households that can’t afford to sustain proper diets, and a Newsweek map shows where food insecurity is hitting hardest.
Some 47 million people across the U.S. have experienced food insecurity in recent years, and that number is rising.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that 13.5 percent of households experienced hunger due to a lack of food or money last year, that’s up from 12.8 percent in 2022 and 10.2 percent in 2021.
The report found that 5.1 percent of these were experiencing very low food insecurity in 2023, the same portion as the year prior.
The USDA defines food security as having “access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members” and very low food insecurity is classified as “where one or more household members experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money or other resources.”
Arizona is the state with the highest percentage of people going hungry, with 18.9 percent of households experiencing either low or very low food insecurity between 2021 and 2023. It is followed by Texas, where 16.9 percent of homes experienced hunger, then by Mississippi, where 16.2 did not have enough to eat, in the same period.
From 2021 to 2023, food insecurity increased in numerous states, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas.
Other states are faring better. The lowest percentage of households experiencing food insecurity was found in New Hampshire (7.4 percent), followed by North Dakota (8.6 percent) and the District of Columbia (8.8 percent).
Across all states, in 2023 household food insecurity impacted 17.9 percent, or approximately 6.5 million, households with children. Among these families, some experienced food insecurity only among adults, while others also included children facing the same challenges.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that “for anyone to go hungry in America is unacceptable.” “Notably, food insecurity held steady from year to year among households with children,” he said of the report.
“This tells us that programs to help feed kids work—including the National School Lunch Program, which gives many kids their healthiest meal of the day; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which serves more than 6 million mothers, children and infants; and SNAP, which is our nation’s most powerful anti-hunger tool and one that more than half of food insecure households used last year—and they must be continued and strengthened.”
“These numbers support what we have been seeing at food banks, pantries and meal programs and what we have been hearing from people across the country who are confronted with the high prices of essentials like groceries and housing,” CEO of Feeding America Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said in a statement to Newsweek.
She backed Vilsack’s call to maintain support for federal hunger programs, as well as championing “community organizations across the country that are working to break cycles that perpetuate hunger.”