Economic

Research

Service

Economic 

Research

Report 

Number 237

September 2017

United States Department of Agriculture

Household Food Security 

in the United States in 2016

Alisha Coleman-Jensen

Matthew P. Rabbitt

Christian A. Gregory

Anita Singh
United States Department of Agriculture

Economic Research Service 

www.ers.usda.gov

Recommended citation format for this publication:

Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Matthew P. Rabbitt, Christian A. Gregory, and Anita Singh. 

2017. Household Food Security in the United States in 2016, ERR-237, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

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United States Department of Agriculture

Economic

Research

Service

Economic

Research

Report

Number 237

September 2017

Household Food Security in the 

United States in 2016

Alisha Coleman-Jensen, acjensen@ers.usda.gov 

Matthew P. Rabbitt, matthew.rabbitt@ers.usda.gov

Christian A. Gregory, cgregory@ers.usda.gov

Anita Singh, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service

Abstract

An estimated 87.7 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire 

year in 2016, meaning they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life 

for all household members. The remaining households (12.3 percent) were food insecure at 

least some time during the year, including 4.9 percent with very low food security, meaning 

that at times the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their 

eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources 

for obtaining food. Changes from 2015 to 2016 in food insecurity overall (from 12.7 to 12.3 

percent) and in very low food security (from 5.0 to 4.9 percent) were not statistically significant, but they continued a downward trend in food insecurity from a high of 14.9 percent 

in 2011. Among children, changes from 2015 in food insecurity and very low food security 

were also not statistically significant. Children and adults were food insecure in 8.0 percent 

of households with children in 2016, essentially unchanged from 7.8 percent in 2015. Very 

low food security among children was 0.8 percent in 2016, essentially unchanged from 

0.7 percent in 2015. In 2016, the typical food-secure household spent 29 percent more on 

food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. About 59 percent of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three 

largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the 2016 

survey (food stamps (SNAP); Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, 

and Children (WIC); and the National School Lunch Program). 

Keywords: Food security, food insecurity, food spending, food pantry, soup kitchen, 

emergency kitchen, material well-being, material hardship, Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program, SNAP, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, 

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC
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About the Authors 

Alisha Coleman-Jensen is a sociologist and Matthew Rabbitt and Christian Gregory are economists with 

the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). Anita Singh is with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Brian Stacy, Mark Prell, Jean Buzby, David Smallwood, and Constance Newman, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (ERS), for their reviews. Thanks also 

to editors Courtney Knauth and Margaret Carter and designer Cynthia A. Ray, also of ERS, for their 

help in producing the report.
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Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Household Food Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Prevalence of Food Insecurity—National Conditions and Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Prevalence of Food Insecurity by Selected Household Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Prevalence of Food Insecurity by State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Household Spending on Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Food Expenditures by Selected Household Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Food Expenditures and Household Food Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs and Food Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Food Security of Households That Received Food and Nutrition Assistance. . . . . . . . . . 30

Participation in Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs by 

 Food-Insecure Households. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
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List of Tables

Table 1A—Households and individuals by food security status of household, 1998-2016. . . . . . . . . 7

Table 1B—Households with children by food security status, and children by food security 

status of household, 1998-2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Table 2—Households by food security status and selected household characteristics, 2016. . . . . . 14

Table 3—Prevalence of food security and food insecurity in households with children 

by selected household characteristics, 2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Table 4—Prevalence of household food insecurity and very low food security by State, 

2014-16 average. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table 5—Change in prevalence of household food insecurity and very low food security 

by State averages, 2014-16, 2011-13, and 2004-06. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Table 6—Weekly household food spending per person and relative to the cost of the 

Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), 2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Table 7—Weekly household food spending per person and relative to the cost of the 

Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) by food security status, 2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Table 8—Percentage of households by food security status and participation in selected 

Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, 2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table 9—Participation of food-insecure households in selected Federal food and nutrition 

assistance programs, 2016. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Additional tables are available in: Coleman-Jensen, Alisha, Matthew P. Rabbitt, Christian A. 

Gregory, and Anita Singh. 2017. Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United 

States in 2016. AP-077, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. 
United States Department of Agriculture

www.ers.usda.gov

ERS is a primary source 

of economic research and 

analysis from the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 

providing timely information on economic and policy 

issues related to agriculture, 

food, the environment, and 

rural America.

Household Food Security in the 

United States in 2016

A report summary from the Economic Research Service

Economic 

Research 

Service

Economic 

Research 

Report 

Number 237

September 2017

Household Food Security 

in the United States in 2016

Alisha Coleman-Jensen

Matthew P. Rabbitt

Christian A. Gregory

Anita Singh

United States Department of Agriculture

September 2017

Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Matthew P. Rabbitt,

Christian A. Gregory, and Anita Singh

What Is the Issue?

Most U.S. households have consistent, dependable access to enough food for active, healthy 

living—they are food secure. But some American households experience food insecurity at times 

during the year, meaning their access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other 

resources. USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs increase food security by providing 

low-income households access to food for a healthful diet and nutrition education. USDA monitors the extent and severity of food insecurity in U.S. households through an annual, nationally 

representative survey sponsored and analyzed by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). 

This report presents statistics from the survey that cover household food security, food expenditures, and use of Federal food and nutrition assistance programs in 2016.

What Did the Study Find? 

The estimated percentage of U.S. households that were food insecure in 2016—12.3 percent—

was essentially unchanged from 2015 (12.7 percent), but continued a downward trend from a high 

of 14.9 percent in 2011. Both the cumulative decline in food insecurity from 2011 to 2014 (14.9 to 

14.0 percent) and the year-to-year decline from 2014 to 2015 (14.0 to 12.7 percent) were statistically significant, and the downward trend, though slower, continued through 2016. However, the 

2016 prevalence of food insecurity was still above the 2007 pre-recession level of 11.1 percent. 

•	 In 2016, 87.7 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the year. The

remaining 12.3 percent (15.6 million households) were food insecure. Food-insecure households (those with low and very low food security) had difficulty at some time during the 

year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources.

•	 In 2016, 4.9 percent of U.S. households (6.1 million households) had very low food

security, essentially unchanged from 5.0 percent in 2015. In this more severe range of 

food insecurity, the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal 

eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year due to limited resources.

•	 Children were food insecure at times during the year in 8.0 percent of U.S. households

with children (3.1 million households), essentially unchanged from 7.8 percent in 2015. 

These households were unable at times during the year to provide adequate, nutritious 

food for their children. As in 2015, the 2016 prevalence of food insecurity among children 

was near the pre-recession level of 8.3 percent in 2007. 
www.ers.usda.gov

Prevalence of food insecurity and very low food security in 2016 essentially unchanged 

from 2015, continues downward trend

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

Percent of households

0

4

8

12

16

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Very low food security

Food insecurity

(including low and very low food security)

•	 While children are usually shielded from the disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake that

characterize very low food security, in 2016 both children and adults experienced instances of very low 

food security in 0.8 percent of households with children (298,000 households), essentially unchanged 

from 0.7 percent in 2015. 

•	 Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes

near or below the Federal poverty line, households with children headed by single women or single men, 

women and men living alone, Black- and Hispanic-headed households, and households in principal cities 

and nonmetropolitan areas.

•	 The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably from State to State, ranging from 8.7 percent in

Hawaii to 18.7 percent in Mississippi in 2014-16. (Data for 3 years were combined to provide more reliable 

State-level statistics.)

•	 The typical (median) food-secure household spent 29 percent more for food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and composition. These estimates include food purchases made with 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) benefits.

•	 About 59 percent of food-insecure households in the survey reported that, in the previous month, they

had participated in one or more of the three largest Federal nutrition assistance programs (SNAP; 

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and National School 

Lunch Program). 

How Was the Study Conducted?

Data for the ERS food security reports come from an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau 

as a supplement to the monthly Current Population Survey. ERS sponsors the annual survey and compiles 

and analyzes the responses. The 2016 food security survey covered 41,186 households, comprising a 

representative sample of the U.S. civilian population of 126 million households. The food security survey 

asked one adult respondent per household questions about experiences and behaviors that indicate food 

insecurity, such as being unable to afford balanced meals, cutting the size of meals, or being hungry because 

of too little money for food. The food security status of the household was assigned based on the number of 

food-insecure conditions reported.
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Household Food Security in the 

United States in 2016

Introduction

Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has collected information annually on food access 

and adequacy, food spending, and sources of food assistance for the U.S. population. The information 

is collected in an annual survey, the Food Security Supplement, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau 

as a supplement to the nationally representative Current Population Survey.1 A major impetus for this 

data collection is to provide information about the prevalence and severity of food insecurity in U.S. 

households. Previous reports in the series are available on the ERS website.

This report updates the national statistics on food security, household food spending, and the use 

of Federal food and nutrition assistance by food-insecure households, using data collected in the 

December 2016 food security survey—the 22nd annual survey in the Nation’s food security monitoring system. Additional statistics, including the prevalence of food insecurity during the 30 days 

prior to the food security survey, the frequency of occurrence of food-insecure conditions, and 

use of food pantries and emergency kitchens are available in the Statistical Supplement (ColemanJensen et al., 2017).

1See Coleman-Jensen, 2015, for the history of the food security measurement project and the development of the food 

security measures.
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Household Food Security

Food security—access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life—is one of 

several conditions necessary for a population to be healthy and well-nourished. This section provides 

information on food security and food insecurity in U.S. households over the course of the year 

ending in December 2016.

Methods

The statistics presented in this report are based on data collected in the Food Security Supplement 

to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted in December 2016. The CPS currently includes 

about 53,000 households and is representative, at State and national levels, of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. In December 2016, 41,186 households completed the 

Food Security Supplement; the remaining households were unable or unwilling to do so. Survey 

sample weights were calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau to indicate how many households were 

represented by each household that responded to the survey.2 All statistics in this report were calculated by applying the Food Security Supplement weights to responses by the surveyed households, so 

the statistics are nationally representative. 

Unless otherwise noted, statistical differences described in the text are significant at the 90-percent 

confidence level.3

The household food security statistics presented in this report are based on a measure of food security calculated from responses to a series of questions about conditions and behaviors that characterize households when they are having difficulty meeting basic food needs.4 Each question asks 

whether the condition or behavior occurred at any time during the previous 12 months and specifies 

a lack of money and other resources to obtain food as the reason. Voluntary fasting or dieting to 

lose weight are thereby excluded from the measure. The series includes three questions about food 

conditions of the household as a whole and seven about food conditions of adults in the household, 

and, if there are children in the household, an additional eight questions about their food conditions 

(see box, “Questions Used To Assess the Food Security of Households in the CPS Food Security 

Survey,” page 3). Responses to the 18 food security questions are reported in tables S-5 to S-7 of the 

Statistical Supplement (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2017). The food security status of each interviewed 

household is determined by the number of food-insecure conditions and behaviors the household 

2In 2016, 22.3 percent of households that responded to the monthly December CPS did not complete the Food Security 

Supplement. Reweighting of the Supplement takes into consideration income and other information about households that 

completed the labor force portion of the survey but not the Food Security Supplement. This corrects, to some extent, biases 

that could result from nonresponse to the Supplement by households that completed only the labor force part of the survey.

3Standard errors of national-level estimates from 2011 to the present were calculated using balanced repeated replication (BRR) methods based on replicate weights computed for the CPS Food Security Supplement by the U.S. Census 

Bureau. For years before 2011, standard errors of national estimates use a design factor of 1.6 based on the complex CPS 

sample design. State-level estimates from 2010 to the present use replicate weights computed for the CPS food security 

supplement. Before 2010, standard errors of State-level estimates were calculated using jackknife replication methods 

with “month in sample” groups considered as separate independent samples. The report uses the phrase essentially 

unchanged to describe differences between estimates of a statistic for 2 years that are not statistically significant at the 

90-percent confidence level.

4The methods used to measure the extent and severity of food insecurity have been described in a number of studies 

(Hamilton et al., 1997a, 1997b; Andrews et al., 1998; Bickel et al., 1998; Carlson et al., 1999; Bickel et al., 2000; Nord and 

Bickel, 2002). See also the assessment of the measurement methods by a panel of the Committee on National Statistics (National Research Council, 2006). Further details on the development of the measure are provided on the ERS website.
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1. “We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more.” Was that often, 

sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

2. “The food that we bought just didn’t last and we didn’t have money to get more.” Was that often, 

sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

3. “We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in 

the last 12 months?

4. In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in the household ever cut the size of your meals or 

skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

5. (If yes to question 4) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not 

every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

6. In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough 

money for food? (Yes/No)

7. In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough money 

for food? (Yes/No)

8. In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

9. In the last 12 months did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day 

because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

10. (If yes to question 9) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not 

every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

(Questions 11-18 were asked only if the household included children age 0-17) 

11. “We relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed our children because we were running 

out of money to buy food.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 

months? 

12. “We couldn’t feed our children a balanced meal, because we couldn’t afford that.” Was that often, 

sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

13. “The children were not eating enough because we just couldn’t afford enough food.” Was that 

often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

14. In the last 12 months, did you ever cut the size of any of the children’s meals because there wasn’t 

enough money for food? (Yes/No)

15. In the last 12 months, were the children ever hungry but you just couldn’t afford more food? 

(Yes/No)

16. In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever skip a meal because there wasn’t enough 

money for food? (Yes/No) 

17. (If yes to question 16) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not 

every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

18. In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t 

enough money for food? (Yes/No)

Questions Used To Assess the Food Security of 

Households in the CPS Food Security Survey
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reports. Households are classified as food secure if they report no food-insecure conditions or only 

one or two food-insecure conditions. (Food-insecure conditions are indicated by responses of “often” 

or “sometimes” to questions 1-3 and 11-13, “almost every month” or “some months but not every 

month” to questions 5, 10, and 17, and “yes” to the other questions.) They are classified as food 

insecure if they report three or more food-insecure conditions.5 Households are classified as having 

food-insecure children if they report two or more food-insecure conditions among the children in 

response to questions 11-18.6

Food-insecure households are further classified as having either low food security or very low food 

security.7 The very low food security category identifies households in which the food intake of one 

or more members was reduced and eating patterns disrupted because of insufficient money and other 

resources for food. Households without children are classified as having very low food security if they 

report six or more food-insecure conditions. Households with children age 0-17 are classified as having 

very low food security if they report eight or more food-insecure conditions among adults and/or children (see box, “What Is ‘Very Low Food Security’?” on page 5).8 They are further classified as having 

very low food security among children if they report five or more food-insecure conditions among the 

children (that is, if they respond affirmatively to five or more of questions 11-18). 

Low and very low food security differ in the extent and character of the adjustments the household 

makes to its eating patterns and food intake. Households classified as having low food security have 

reported multiple indications of food acquisition problems and reduced diet quality, but typically 

have reported few, if any, indications of reduced food intake. Those classified as having very low 

food security have reported multiple indications of reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns 

due to inadequate resources for food. In most, but not all, households with very low food security,

the survey respondent reported that he or she was hungry at some time during the year but did not 

eat because there was not enough money for food.

5To reduce the survey burden on higher income respondents, households with incomes above 185 percent of the Federal poverty line that give no indication of food-access problems on either of two preliminary screening questions are 

deemed to be food secure and are not asked the questions in the food security assessment series. The preliminary screening questions asked of all households are as follows:

•	People do different things when they are running out of money for food in order to make their food or their food

money go further. In the last 12 months, since December of last year, did you ever run short of money and try to 

make your food or your food money go further?

•	Which of these statements best describes the food eaten in your household—enough of the kinds of food we want to

eat, enough but not always the kinds of food we want to eat, sometimes not enough to eat, or often not enough to eat?

6Both qualitative and quantitative research studies have suggested that parents’ reports of their children’s food insecurity sometimes differed from adolescents’ self-reported food insecurity and that parents were sometimes unaware of the 

degree to which children reduced their own food intake due to household food insecurity (Fram et al., 2011; Nord and 

Hanson 2012). The extent to which underreporting of children’s food insecurity may exist is unknown (see pp. 9-10 in 

Coleman-Jensen, McFall, and Nord (2013) for a discussion of research on parent-reported and self-reported food insecurity among children). 

7Prior to 2006, households with low food security were described as “food insecure without hunger” and households 

with very low food security were described as “food insecure with hunger.” Changes in these descriptions were made 

in 2006 at the recommendation of the Committee on National Statistics (National Research Council, 2006) in order to 

distinguish the physiological state of hunger from indicators of food availability. The criteria by which households were 

classified remained unchanged. 

8Implications of differences in raw score thresholds for very low food security between households with and without 

children are discussed in Nord and Coleman-Jensen (2014).
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What Is “Very Low Food Security”?

Very low food security can be characterized in 

terms of the conditions that households in this 

category reported in the food security survey. 

Households without children classified as having 

very low food security reported six or more foodinsecure conditions and households with children 

reported eight or more food-insecure conditions, 

including conditions among both adults and children. Thus, the conditions reported by respondents 

reflect the definition of “very low food security”: 

at times during the year: the food intake of household members was reduced and their normal eating 

patterns were disrupted because the household 

lacked money and other resources for food. In 

the 2016 survey, households classified as having 

very low food security (representing an estimated 

6.1 million households nationwide) reported the 

following specific conditions:

•	 98 percent reported having worried that their

food would run out before they got money to 

buy more.

•	 97 percent reported that the food they bought

just did not last and they did not have money to 

get more.

•	 95 percent reported that they could not afford to

eat balanced meals.

•	 97 percent reported that an adult had cut the

size of meals or skipped meals because there 

was not enough money for food.

•	 88 percent reported that this had occurred in 3

or more months.

•	 95 percent reported that they had eaten less

than they felt they should because there was not 

enough money for food.

•	 68 percent reported that they had been hungry

but did not eat because they could not afford 

enough food.

•	 44 percent reported having lost weight because

they did not have enough money for food.

•	 33 percent reported that an adult did not eat

for a whole day because there was not enough 

money for food.

•	 26 percent reported that this had occurred in 3

or more months.

As noted above, all households without children 

classified as having very low food security reported 

at least six of these conditions. The majority of 

households with very low food security, 66 percent, 

reported seven or more food-insecure conditions. 

(Conditions reported by households with children 

were similar to those without children, but the 

reported food-insecure conditions of both adults 

and children were taken into account.) 

Percentage of households reporting each indicator of food insecurity, 

by food security status, 2016

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

0 20 40 60 80 100

Worried food would run out

Food bought did not last

Could not afford balanced meal

Cut size of meal or skipped meal

Cut or skipped meal in 3+ months

Ate less than felt should

Hungry but did not eat

Lost weight

Did not eat whole day

Did not eat whole day, 3+ months

Food secure

Low food security

Very low food security

Percent
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Prevalence of Food Insecurity—National Conditions and Trends

An estimated 87.7 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2016 (fig. 

1, table 1A). In concept, “food secure” means that all household members had access at all times to 

enough food for an active, healthy life (Anderson, 1990).9 The remaining 12.3 percent (15.6 million 

households) were food insecure at some time during the year. That is, they were at times unable to 

acquire adequate food for one or more household members because they had insufficient money and 

other resources for food. A majority of food-insecure households—those classified as having low food 

security (but not very low food security)—avoided substantial reductions or disruptions in food intake, 

in many cases by relying on a few basic foods and reducing variety in their diets. But 4.9 percent (6.1 

million households) had very low food security—that is, they were food insecure to the extent that 

eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and their food intake reduced, at 

least some time during the year, because they could not afford enough food. 

Among U.S. households with children under age 18, 83.5 percent were food secure in 2016. The 

remaining 16.5 percent of households with children were food insecure at some time during the year 

(fig. 2, table 1B). This prevalence is essentially unchanged from 16.6 percent in 2015. Parents and 

caregivers often are able to maintain normal or near-normal diets and meal patterns for their children, even when the parents themselves are food insecure. In about half of food-insecure households 

with children in 2016, only adults were food insecure (8.5 percent of households with children). 

However, both children and adults were food insecure in 8.0 percent of households with children (3.1 

million households). In 0.8 percent of households with children (298,000 households), food insecurity among children was so severe that caregivers reported that children were hungry, skipped a 

meal, or did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food. These households 

are described as having very low food security among children. In some such households, only older 

children may have experienced the more severe effects of food insecurity, while younger children 

were protected from those effects (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2013; Nord, 2009a).

The food security survey is designed to measure food security status at the household level. While it 

is informative to examine the number of persons living in food-insecure households, these statistics 

should be interpreted carefully. Within a food-insecure household, each household member may be 

affected differently by the household’s food insecurity. Some members—particularly young children—

may experience only mild effects or none at all, while adults are more severely affected. It is more 

precise, therefore, to describe these statistics as representing “persons living in food-insecure households” rather than as representing “food-insecure persons.” Similarly, “persons living in households 

with very low food security” is a more precise description than “persons with very low food security.”

In 2016, 41.2 million people lived in food-insecure households (see table 1A). They constituted 12.9 

percent of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population and included 28.3 million adults and 

12.9 million children (see table 1B). About 6.5 million children (8.8 percent) lived in households in 

which 1 or more child was food insecure. About 10.8 million adults (4.4 percent) lived in households 

9Food security statistics, as operationally measured for this report using survey data, are based on household responses 

to items about whether the household was able to obtain enough food to meet its members’ needs. This operational measure does not specifically address whether the household members’ food intake was sufficient for active, healthy lives, 

the conceptual definition of food security. Nonetheless, research based on other data collections has found survey-based 

measures of food security to be statistically associated with various outcomes involving health, nutrition, and children’s 

development in a manner that generally supports the link between the report’s survey-based measure of food security and 

the conceptual definition of food security (see, for example, Coleman-Jensen et al., 2013; Gregory and Coleman-Jensen, 

2017; Nord, 2009a; Nord and Hopwood, 2007; Nord and Kantor, 2006).
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Figure 1

U.S. households by food security status, 2016

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, 

U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

Food-insecure households—12.3%

Households with low food

security—7.4%

Households with very low food

security—4.9%

Food-secure 

households—87.7%

Table 1A

Households and individuals by food security status of household, 1998-2016—continued

Food insecure

Category

and year Total1 Food secure All

With low 

food security

With very low 

food security

1,000 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent

Households:

2016 126,401 110,850 87.7 15,551 12.3 9,413 7.4 6,138 4.9

2015 125,164 109,315 87.3 15,849 12.7 9,540 7.7 6,309 5.0

2014 124,044 106,618 86.0 17,426 14.0 10,488 8.4 6,938 5.6

2013 122,579 105,070 85.7 17,509 14.3 10,664 8.7 6,845 5.6

2012 121,546 103,914 85.5 17,632 14.5 10,679 8.8 6,953 5.7

2011 119,484 101,631 85.1 17,853 14.9 11,014 9.2 6,839 5.7

2010 118,756 101,527 85.5 17,229 14.5 10,872 9.1 6,357 5.4

2009 118,174 100,820 85.3 17,354 14.7 10,601 9.0 6,753 5.7

2008 117,565 100,416 85.4 17,149 14.6 10,426 8.9 6,723 5.7

2007 117,100 104,089 88.9 13,011 11.1 8,262 7.0 4,749 4.1

2006 115,609 102,961 89.1 12,648 10.9 8,031 6.9 4,617 4.0

2005 114,437 101,851 89.0 12,586 11.0 8,158 7.1 4,428 3.9

2004 112,967 99,473 88.1 13,494 11.9 9,045 8.0 4,449 3.9

2003 112,214 99,631 88.8 12,583 11.2 8,663 7.7 3,920 3.5

2002 108,601 96,543 88.9 12,058 11.1 8,259 7.6 3,799 3.5

2001 107,824 96,303 89.3 11,521 10.7 8,010 7.4 3,511 3.3

2000 106,043 94,942 89.5 11,101 10.5 7,786 7.3 3,315 3.1

1999 104,684 94,154 89.9 10,529 10.1 7,420 7.1 3,109 3.0

1998 103,309 91,121 88.2 12,188 11.8 8,353 8.1 3,835 3.7

All individuals (by food security status of household):2

2016 319,029 277,825 87.1 41,204 12.9 26,556 8.3 14,648 4.6

2015 316,161 273,923 86.6 42,238 13.4 27,605 8.7 14,633 4.6

2014 313,305 265,170 84.6 48,135 15.4 30,922 9.9 17,213 5.5

Continued—
8

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Table 1A

Households and individuals by food security status of household, 1998-2016—continued

Food insecure

Category

and year Total1 Food secure All

With low 

food security

With very low 

food security

1,000 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent

2013 310,853 261,775 84.2 49,078 15.8 31,974 10.3 17,104 5.5

2012 308,361 259,395 84.1 48,966 15.9 31,787 10.3 17,179 5.6

2011 305,893 255,773 83.6 50,120 16.4 33,232 10.9 16,888 5.5

2010 304,034 255,202 83.9 48,832 16.1 32,777 10.8 16,055 5.3

2009 301,750 251,588 83.4 50,162 16.6 32,499 10.8 17,663 5.9

2008 299,567 250,459 83.6 49,108 16.4 31,824 10.6 17,284 5.8

2007 297,042 260,813 87.8 36,229 12.2 24,287 8.2 11,942 4.0

2006 294,010 258,495 87.9 35,515 12.1 24,395 8.3 11,120 3.8

2005 291,501 256,373 87.9 35,128 12.1 24,349 8.4 10,779 3.7

2004 288,603 250,407 86.8 38,196 13.2 27,535 9.5 10,661 3.7

2003 286,410 250,155 87.3 36,255 12.7 26,622 9.3 9,633 3.4

2002 279,035 244,133 87.5 34,902 12.5 25,517 9.1 9,385 3.4

2001 276,661 243,019 87.8 33,642 12.2 24,628 8.9 9,014 3.3

2000 273,685 240,454 87.9 33,231 12.1 24,708 9.0 8,523 3.1

1999 270,318 239,304 88.5 31,015 11.5 23,237 8.6 7,779 2.9

1998 268,366 232,219 86.5 36,147 13.5 26,290 9.8 9,857 3.7

Adults (by food security status of household):2

2016 245,200 216,934 88.5 28,266 11.5 17,498 7.1 10,768 4.4

2015 242,706 213,586 88.0 29,120 12.0 18,235 7.5 10,885 4.5

2014 239,937 207,125 86.3 32,812 13.7 20,425 8.5 12,387 5.2

2013 237,219 203,913 86.0 33,306 14.0 21,115 8.9 12,191 5.1

2012 234,730 201,662 85.9 33,068 14.1 20,708 8.8 12,359 5.3

2011 231,385 197,923 85.5 33,462 14.5 21,371 9.2 12,091 5.2

2010 229,129 196,505 85.8 32,624 14.2 21,357 9.3 11,267 4.9

2009 227,543 194,579 85.5 32,964 14.5 20,741 9.1 12,223 5.4

2008 225,461 193,026 85.6 32,435 14.4 20,320 9.0 12,115 5.4

2007 223,467 199,672 89.4 23,795 10.6 15,602 7.0 8,193 3.7

2006 220,423 197,536 89.6 22,887 10.4 15,193 6.9 7,694 3.5

2005 217,897 195,172 89.6 22,725 10.4 15,146 7.0 7,579 3.5

2004 215,564 191,236 88.7 24,328 11.3 16,946 7.9 7,382 3.4

2003 213,441 190,451 89.2 22,990 10.8 16,358 7.7 6,632 3.1

2002 206,493 184,718 89.5 21,775 10.5 15,486 7.5 6,289 3.0

2001 204,340 183,398 89.8 20,942 10.2 14,879 7.3 6,063 3.0

2000 201,922 181,586 89.9 20,336 10.1 14,763 7.3 5,573 2.8

1999 198,900 179,960 90.5 18,941 9.5 13,869 7.0 5,072 2.5

1998 197,084 174,964 88.8 22,120 11.2 15,632 7.9 6,488 3.3

1Totals exclude households for which food security status is unknown because household respondents did not give a valid response to any 

of the questions in the food security scale. In 2016, these exclusions represented 408,000 households (0.3 percent of all households).

2The food security survey measures food security status at the household level. Not all individuals residing in food-insecure households 

were directly affected by the households’ food insecurity. Similarly, not all individuals in households classified as having very low food 

security were subject to the reductions in food intake and disruptions in eating patterns that characterize this condition. Young children, in 

particular, are often protected from effects of the households’ food insecurity.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population 

Survey Food Security Supplement.
9

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Figure 2

U.S. households with children by food security status of adults and children, 2016

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

Food-insecure households—16.5%

Food-insecure

children and 

adults—8.0%

Food-insecure adults only—8.5%

Low food security among children—7.2%

Very low food security among children—0.8%

Food-secure 

households—83.5%

with very low food security (table 1A), and 703,000 children (1.0 percent) lived in households with 

very low food security among children (see table 1B).

Statistical Supplement tables S-2 and S-3 present estimates of the number of people and the number of 

children in households in each food security status and household type (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2017). 

When interpreting food security statistics in this report, the reader should keep in mind that households were classified as having low or very low food security if they experienced the condition at 

any time during the previous 12 months. The prevalence of these conditions on any given day is far 

below the corresponding annual prevalence. For example, the prevalence of very low food security 

during the 30 days prior to the survey is 2.8 percent (table S-4) and the prevalence on an average 

day during the 30-day period prior to the December 2016 survey is estimated to have been between 

0.6 and 0.9 percent of households (0.8 million to 1.2 million households; see box, “When Food 

Insecurity Occurs in U.S. Households, It Is Usually Recurrent But Not Chronic,” on page 11).10

Children, along with adults, experienced very low food security in an estimated 47,000 to 57,000 

households (0.12 to 0.15 percent of all U.S. households with children) on an average day during the 

same period. 

Food insecurity was essentially unchanged from 12.7 percent in 2015 to 12.3 percent in 2016. (The 

difference was not statistically significant.) There was a statistically significant decline in food 

insecurity from 14.0 percent in 2014 to 12.7 percent in 2015. Before that, the prevalence of food 

insecurity was essentially unchanged from 2013 to 2014 and from 2012 to 2014. That is, the changes 

were within the range that could have resulted from sampling variation. The cumulative decline 

from 2011 (14.9 percent) to 2014 (14.0 percent) was statistically significant, and that downward trend 

10Average daily prevalence of the various behaviors, experiences, and conditions characterizing very low food security 

is calculated based on the proportion of households reporting the condition at any time during the previous 30 days and 

the average number of days in which the condition occurred. The average daily prevalence for each condition is calculated as the product of the 30-day prevalence and the average number of days experienced divided by 30. The ratio of daily 

prevalence to monthly prevalence of the various indicator conditions provides the basis for approximating the average 

daily prevalence of very low food security during the reference 30-day period. The daily rate of very low food security is 

expressed as a range whose lower and upper bounds are based on the minimum and maximum ratio of daily prevalence 

to 30-day prevalence. See table S-9 in the online Statistical Supplement. 
10

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Table 1B

Households with children by food security status, and children by food security status of household, 1998-2016

Category

and year Total1

Food-secure

households

Food-insecure

households2

Households with

food-insecure

children3

Households with very 

low food security

among children

1,000 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent

Households with children:

2016 38,400 32,058 83.5 6,342 16.5 3,069 8.0 298 0.8

2015 38,978 32,519 83.4 6,459 16.6 3,022 7.8 274 .7

2014 39,079 31,590 80.8 7,489 19.2 3,665 9.4 422 1.1

2013 38,486 30,978 80.5 7,508 19.5 3,814 9.9 360 .9

2012 39,201 31,354 80.0 7,847 20.0 3,910 10.0 463 1.2

2011 38,803 30,814 79.4 7,989 20.6 3,862 10.0 374 1.0

2010 39,419 31,447 79.8 7,972 20.2 3,861 9.8 386 1.0

2009 39,525 31,114 78.7 8,411 21.3 4,208 10.6 469 1.2

2008 39,699 31,364 79.0 8,335 21.0 4,361 11.0 506 1.3

2007 39,390 33,160 84.2 6,230 15.8 3,273 8.3 323 .8

2006 39,436 33,279 84.4 6,157 15.6 3,312 8.4 221 .6

2005 39,601 33,404 84.4 6,197 15.6 3,244 8.2 270 7

2004 39,990 32,967 82.4 7,023 17.6 3,808 9.5 274 .7

2003 40,286 33,575 83.3 6,711 16.7 3,606 9.0 207 .5

2002 38,647 32,267 83.5 6,380 16.5 3,456 8.9 265 .7

2001 38,330 32,141 83.9 6,189 16.1 3,225 8.4 211 .6

2000 38,113 31,942 83.8 6,171 16.2 3,282 8.6 255 .7

1999 37,884 32,290 85.2 5,594 14.8 3,089 8.2 219 .6

1998 38,036 31,335 82.4 6,701 17.6 3,627 9.5 331 .9

Children (by food security status of household):4

2016 73,829 60,891 82.5 12,938 17.5 6,519 8.8 703 1.0

2015 73,455 60,337 82.1 13,118 17.9 6,377 8.7 541 .7

2014 73,368 58,045 79.1 15,323 20.9 7,949 10.8 914 1.2

2013 73,634 57,862 78.6 15,772 21.4 8,585 11.7 765 1.0

2012 73,631 57,733 78.4 15,898 21.6 8,290 11.3 977 1.3

2011 74,508 57,850 77.6 16,658 22.4 8,565 11.5 845 1.1

2010 74,905 58,697 78.4 16,208 21.6 8,458 11.3 976 1.3

2009 74,207 57,010 76.8 17,197 23.2 8,957 12.1 988 1.3

2008 74,106 57,433 77.5 16,673 22.5 9,098 12.3 1,077 1.5

2007 73,575 61,140 83.1 12,435 16.9 6,766 9.2 691 .9

2006 73,587 60,959 82.8 12,628 17.2 7,065 9.6 430 .6

2005 73,604 61,201 83.1 12,403 16.9 6,718 9.1 606 .8

2004 73,039 59,171 81.0 13,868 19.0 7,823 10.7 545 .7

2003 72,969 59,704 81.8 13,265 18.2 7,388 10.1 420 .6

2002 72,542 59,415 81.9 13,127 18.1 7,397 10.2 567 .8

2001 72,321 59,620 82.4 12,701 17.6 6,866 9.5 467 .6

2000 71,763 58,867 82.0 12,896 18.0 7,018 9.8 562 .8

1999 71,418 59,344 83.1 12,074 16.9 6,996 9.8 511 .7

1998 71,282 57,255 80.3 14,027 19.7 7,840 11.0 716 1.0

1Totals exclude households for which food security status is unknown because they did not give a valid response to any of the questions in the 

food security scale. In 2016, these exclusions represented 84,000 households with children (0.2 percent of all households with children). 

2Food-insecure households are those with low or very low food security among adults or children or both.

3In some food-insecure households with children, only adults were food insecure. Households with food-insecure children are those with low or 

very low food security among children.

4The food security survey measures food security status at the household level. Not all children residing in food-insecure households were directly 

affected by the households’ food insecurity. Similarly, not all children in households classified as having very low food security among children 

were subject to the reductions in food intake and disruptions in eating patterns that characterize this condition. Young children, in particular, are 

often protected from effects of the households’ food insecurity.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 

Food Security Supplement.
11

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When households experience very low food security in 

the United States, the resulting instances of reduced food 

intake and disrupted eating patterns are usually occasional 

or episodic but are not usually chronic. The food security 

measurement methods used in this report are designed 

to register these occasional or episodic occurrences. The 

questions used to assess households’ food security status 

ask whether a condition, experience, or behavior occurred 

at any time in the past 12 months, and households can 

be classified as having very low food security based on 

a single, severe episode during the year. It is important 

to keep this aspect of the measure in mind when interpreting food insecurity statistics. Analyses of additional 

information collected in the food security survey on how 

frequently various food-insecure conditions occurred 

during the year, whether they occurred during the 30 days 

prior to the survey, and, if so, in how many days, provide 

insight into the frequency and duration of food insecurity 

in U.S. households. These analyses reveal that in 2016:

•	 About one-fourth of the households with very low food

security at any time during the year experienced the 

associated conditions rarely or occasionally—in only 1 

or 2 months of the year. For three-fourths of households, 

the conditions were recurrent, experienced in 3 or more 

months of the year.

•	 For about one-fourth of food-insecure households and

one-third of those with very low food security, occurrence of the associated conditions was frequent or 

chronic. That is, the conditions occurred often, or in 

almost every month.

•	 On average, households that were food insecure at some

time during the year were food insecure in 7 months 

during the year. During the 30-day period ending 

in mid-December 2016, 8.5 million households (6.7 

percent of all households) were food insecure—about 

54 percent of the number that were food insecure at any 

time during the year (see Statistical Supplement table 

S-4; Coleman-Jensen et al., 2017). 

•	 Similarly, households with very low food security at

some time during the year experienced the associated 

conditions, on average, in 7 months during the year. 

During the 30-day period ending in mid-December 2016, 

3.6 million households (2.8 percent of all households) 

had very low food security—about 58 percent of the 

number with very low food security at some time during 

the year (see Statistical Supplement table S-4).

•	 Most households that had very low food security at some

time during a month experienced the associated conditions in 1 to 7 days of the month. The average daily 

prevalence of very low food security during the 30-day 

period ending in mid-December 2016 was probably 

between 0.8 million and 1.2 million households (0.6 to 

0.9 percent of all households)—about 13 to 19 percent of 

the annual prevalence. 

•	 The daily prevalence of very low food security among

children during the 30-day period ending in midDecember 2016 was probably between 47,000 and 

57,000 households (0.12 to 0.15 percent of households 

with children)—about 16 to 19 percent of the annual 

prevalence. 

•	 The omission of homeless families and individuals

from these daily statistics biases the statistics downward, and the bias may be substantial relative to the 

estimates, especially for the most severe conditions.

(Statistical Supplement tables S-7 to S-9 provide information on how often conditions indicating food insecurity 

occurred, as reported by respondents to the December 

2016 food security survey. See Nord et al., 2000, for more 

information about the frequency of food insecurity. See 

Ryu and Bartfeld, 2012, and Wilde et al., 2010, for more 

information about longer term patterns of food insecurity.)

Prevalence of food insecurity and very low 

food security, by reference period (2016)

Percent of households

Food insecurity

Very low food security

NA = Estimated average daily occurrence of food insecurity is not 

available because information was not collected on the number of 

days that less severe food-insecure conditions occurred.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from 

U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 

Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

12.3

6.7

4.9

2.8

0.6 to 0.9 NA

Any time

during year

Any time during 30 

days prior to survey

Estimated 

average daily

When Food Insecurity Occurs in U.S. Households, 

It Is Usually Recurrent But Not Chronic
12

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continued through 2016. Over the previous decade, food insecurity had increased from 10.7 percent 

in 2001 to nearly 12 percent in 2004, declined to 11 percent in 2005-07, then increased in 2008 (to 

14.6 percent), and remained essentially unchanged at that level in 2009 and 2010 (fig. 3).

Very low food security was essentially unchanged from 5.0 percent in 2015 to 4.9 percent in 2016. 

The decline in very low food security from 5.6 percent in 2014 to 5.0 percent in 2015 was statistically significant. However, the prevalence of very low food security was essentially unchanged from 

2011 (5.7 percent) through 2014 (5.6 percent). The prevalence of very low food security was also 

5.7 percent in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the prevalence of very low food security had declined to 5.4 

percent. Prior to 2008, the prevalence of very low food security had increased from 3.3 percent in 

2001 to 3.9 percent in 2004 and remained essentially unchanged through 2007. 

Prevalence of Food Insecurity by Selected Household 

Characteristics

The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably among households with different demographic and economic characteristics (table 2). Differences in food security across demographic and 

geographic groups reflect, in part, differences in income across those groups; though no adjustment 

is made for income in the statistics presented in this report, food insecurity was strongly associated with income. For example, 38.3 percent of households with annual incomes below the official 

poverty line (household income-to-poverty ratio under 1.00) were food insecure, compared with 5.6 

percent of those with incomes at or above 185 percent of the poverty line.11

Figure 3

Trends in the prevalence of food insecurity and very low food security in 

U.S. households, 2001-2016

Percent of households

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Food insecurity

(including low and very low food security)

Very low food security

11The Federal poverty line was $24,339 for a family of four (two adults and two children) in 2016.
13

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Rates of food insecurity were below the national average of 12.3 percent for married-couple families with children (9.9 percent), households with more than one adult and no children (8.0 percent), 

households with elderly persons (7.8 percent), and elderly living alone (8.9 percent).12 The prevalence of food insecurity was also below the national average for White, non-Hispanic households 

(9.3 percent); households headed by non-Hispanics of other, or multiple, races (10.7 percent); and 

households with incomes above 185 percent of the poverty line (5.6 percent). 

Rates of food insecurity were higher than the national average for the following groups: 

•	 All households with children (16.5 percent) 13

•	 Households with children under age 6 (16.6 percent)

•	 Households with children headed by a single woman (31.6 percent) or a single man (21.7

percent)14 and other households with children (22.2 percent)

•	 Women living alone (13.9 percent) and men living alone (14.3 percent)

•	 Households headed by Black non-Hispanics (22.5 percent) and Hispanics (18.5 percent)

•	 Low-income households with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty threshold (31.6 percent).

Across the metropolitan area classifications, the prevalence of food insecurity was higher for households located in nonmetropolitan (rural) areas (15.0 percent) and for those in principal cities of 

metropolitan areas (14.2 percent), and was lower in suburbs or exurbs and other metropolitan areas 

outside principal cities (9.5 percent).15 Regionally, the prevalence of food insecurity was highest in 

the South (13.5 percent). The prevalence of food insecurity was significantly lower in the Northeast 

(10.8 percent) than in the Midwest (12.2 percent) or the South, but not statistically different from the 

West (11.5 percent). 

In addition to estimating the prevalence of food insecurity across characteristics, the share that each 

group contributes to the population of food-insecure households can also be calculated from the 

statistics in table 2. Among all food-insecure households in 2016, 19.9 percent were female-headed 

households with children and 15.9 percent were married-couple households with children. About 59 

12“Elderly” in this report refers to persons ages 65 and older.

13About 40 percent of the difference in food insecurity between households with and without children results from 

a difference in the measures applied to the two types of households. Responses to questions about children as well as 

adults are considered in assessing the food security status of households with children, but for both types of households, a 

total of three indications of food insecurity is required for classification as food insecure. Even with the child-referenced 

questions omitted from the scale, however, in 2016, 14.0 percent of households with children would be classified as food 

insecure (that is, as having food insecurity among adults), compared with 10.5 percent for households without children. 

Comparisons of very low food security are not biased substantially by this measurement issue because a higher threshold 

is applied to households with children, consistent with the larger number of questions taken into consideration (Nord and 

Coleman-Jensen, 2014). 

14Some households with children headed by a single woman or a single man as classified for these analyses included 

other adults, who may have been parents, siblings, cohabiting partners, adult children, or other relatives of the reference 

person or unrelated roomers or boarders.

15Revised metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and principal cities within them were delineated by the Office of 

Management and Budget in 2013, based on revised standards developed by the U.S. Census Bureau in collaboration with 

other Federal agencies. The revised delineations were implemented beginning with the 2014 Current Population Survey 

Food Security Supplement. Food security prevalence statistics by area of residence for 2014 and 2015 are comparable, 

but are not precisely comparable with corresponding statistics from earlier years. Principal cities include the incorporated 

areas of the largest city in each MSA and other cities in the MSA that meet specified criteria based on population size 

and commuting patterns. 
14

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Table 2

Households by food security status and selected household characteristics, 2016

Food insecure

Category Total1 Food secure All

With low 

food security

With very low 

food security

1,000 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent

All households 126,401 110,850 87.7 15,551 12.3 9,413 7.4 6,138 4.9

Household composition:

With children < 18 yrs 38,400 32,059 83.5 6,341 16.5 4,501 11.7 1,840 4.8

With children < 6 yrs 16,571 13,820 83.4 2,751 16.6 1,923 11.6 828 5.0

Married-couple families 25,031 22,560 90.1 2,471 9.9 1,843 7.4 628 2.5

Female head, no spouse 9,780 6,692 68.4 3,088 31.6 2,061 21.1 1,027 10.5

Male head, no spouse 3,070 2,403 78.3 667 21.7 509 16.6 158 5.1

Other household with child2 519 404 77.8 115 22.2 NA NA NA NA

With no children < 18 yrs 88,001 78,792 89.5 9,209 10.5 4,911 5.6 4,298 4.9

More than one adult 52,353 48,162 92.0 4,191 8.0 2,411 4.6 1,780 3.4

Women living alone 19,649 16,910 86.1 2,739 13.9 1,420 7.2 1,319 6.7

Men living alone 15,999 13,719 85.7 2,280 14.3 1,080 6.8 1,200 7.5

With elderly 36,335 33,496 92.2 2,839 7.8 1,786 4.9 1,053 2.9

Elderly living alone 13,529 12,326 91.1 1,203 8.9 733 5.4 470 3.5

Race/ethnicity of households:

White, non-Hispanic 84,087 76,271 90.7 7,816 9.3 4,591 5.5 3,225 3.8

Black, non-Hispanic 15,940 12,346 77.5 3,594 22.5 2,048 12.8 1,546 9.7

Hispanic3 17,054 13,907 81.5 3,147 18.5 2,152 12.7 995 5.8

Other, non-Hispanic 9,319 8,325 89.3 994 10.7 622 6.7 372 4.0

Household income-to-poverty ratio:

Under 1.00 13,929 8,598 61.7 5,331 38.3 2,920 21.0 2,411 17.3

Under 1.30 18,522 11,917 64.3 6,605 35.7 3,725 20.2 2,880 15.5

Under 1.85 29,025 19,860 68.4 9,165 31.6 5,319 18.3 3,846 13.3

1.85 and over 67,785 64,001 94.4 3,784 5.6 2,499 3.7 1,285 1.9

Income unknown 29,590 26,988 91.2 2,602 8.8 1,595 5.4 1,007 3.4

Area of residence:4

Inside metropolitan area 108,118 95,315 88.2 12,803 11.8 7,868 7.2 4,935 4.6

In principal cities5 37,176 31,879 85.8 5,297 14.2 3,117 8.3 2,180 5.9

Not in principal cities 54,399 49,222 90.5 5,177 9.5 3,286 6.0 1,891 3.5

Outside metropolitan area 18,283 15,535 85.0 2,748 15.0 1,545 8.4 1,203 6.6

Census geographic region:

Northeast 22,669 20,217 89.2 2,452 10.8 1,594 7.0 858 3.8

Midwest 27,307 23,976 87.8 3,331 12.2 1,871 6.9 1,460 5.3

South 47,966 41,476 86.5 6,490 13.5 3,890 8.1 2,600 5.4

West 28,458 25,180 88.5 3,278 11.5 2,057 7.2 1,221 4.3

NA = Not reported; fewer than 10 households in the survey with this characteristic had very low food security.

1Totals exclude households for which food security status is unknown because household respondents did not give a valid response to any of the 

questions in the food security scale. In 2016, these exclusions represented 408,000 households (0.3 percent of all households).

2Households with children in complex living arrangements, e.g., children of other relatives or unrelated roommate or boarder.

3Hispanics may be of any race.

4Metropolitan area residence is based on 2013 Office of Management and Budget delineation. Prevalence rates by area of residence are 

comparable with those for 2014 and 2015 but are not precisely comparable with those of earlier years.

5Households within incorporated areas of the largest cities in each metropolitan area. Residence inside or outside of principal cities is not 

identified for about 15 percent of households in metropolitan statistical areas.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Current Population 

Survey Food Security Supplement.
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percent of all food-insecure households were adult-only households with no children. Low-income 

households with incomes below 185 percent of poverty made up the majority of food-insecure 

households, 58.9 percent. Households with incomes at or above 185 percent of poverty made up 

about one-quarter of all food-insecure households in 2016. 

The prevalence of very low food security in various types of households followed a pattern similar 

to that observed for food insecurity. Percentages were lower than the national average of 4.9 percent 

for married couples with children (2.5 percent); multiple-adult households with no children (3.4 

percent); households with elderly persons (2.9 percent); elderly living alone (3.5 percent); White, 

non-Hispanic households (3.8 percent); households headed by non-Hispanics of other, or multiple, 

races (4.0 percent); households with incomes above 185 percent of the poverty line (1.9 percent); 

households in suburbs and exurbs outside principal cities within metropolitan areas (3.5 percent); 

and households in the Northeast (3.8 percent) and West (4.3 percent). 

The prevalence of very low food security was significantly higher than the national average (4.9 

percent) for the following groups: 

•	 Households with children headed by a single woman (10.5 percent)

•	 Women living alone (6.7 percent) and men living alone (7.5 percent)

•	 Black, non-Hispanic households (9.7 percent) and Hispanic households (5.8 percent)

•	 Households with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line (13.3 percent)

•	 Households located in principal cities (5.9 percent) and in nonmetropolitan areas (6.6 percent)

•	 Households in the South (5.4 percent).

In 8.0 percent of households with children, one or more child was food insecure (table 3).16 Among 

household categories, the percentage of households with food-insecure children was lower in 

married-couple households (4.7 percent); White, non-Hispanic households (5.6 percent); households 

with incomes above 185 percent of the poverty line (2.5 percent); and metropolitan households 

located in suburbs and exurbs outside of principal cities (6.5 percent). The percentage of households 

with food-insecure children was higher for female-headed households (16.0 percent); Black, nonHispanic households (13.4 percent); Hispanic households (11.6 percent); low-income households 

with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line (18.2 percent); households in principal cities (9.4 

percent); and households in nonmetropolitan areas (10.5 percent).

Compared with the prevalence for all households with children (0.8 percent), very low food security 

among children was less prevalent in married-couple families (0.4 percent); in White, non-Hispanic 

households (0.4 percent); and in households located outside principal cities in metropolitan areas 

(0.4 percent). Very low food security among children was more prevalent in households headed by a 

single woman (1.7 percent); households headed by a Black, non-Hispanic adult (2.2 percent); households with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line (2.0 percent); and households located in 

principal cities (1.4 percent). 

16Households are classified as having food insecurity among children if they report two or more food-insecure conditions among children in response to questions 11-18 in the box on page 3 (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2013; Nord, 2009a).
16

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Table 3

Prevalence of food security and food insecurity in households with children by selected household 

characteristics, 2016

Category Total1

Food-secure

households

Food-insecure

households2

Households with

food-insecure

children3

Households with 

very 

low food security

among children

1,000 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent 1,000 Percent

All households with children 38,400 32,058 83.5 6,342 16.5 3,069 8.0 298 0.8

Household composition:

With children < 6 yrs 16,571 13,820 83.4 2,751 16.6 1,318 8.0 121 .7

Married-couple families 25,031 22,560 90.1 2,471 9.9 1,182 4.7 95 .4

Female head, no spouse 9,780 6,693 68.4 3,087 31.6 1,560 16.0 168 1.7

Male head, no spouse 3,070 2,402 78.2 668 21.8 283 9.2 NA NA

Other household with child4 519 404 77.8 115 22.2 45 8.7 NA NA

Race/ethnicity of households:

White, non-Hispanic 21,574 18,838 87.3 2,736 12.7 1,198 5.6 84 .4

Black, non-Hispanic 4,995 3,695 74.0 1,300 26.0 668 13.4 111 2.2

Hispanic5 8,319 6,493 78.1 1,826 21.9 969 11.6 87 1.0

Other, non-Hispanic 3,512 3,032 86.3 480 13.7 234 6.7 NA NA

Household income-to-poverty ratio:

Under 1.00 5,533 3,110 56.2 2,423 43.8 1,310 23.7 172 3.1

Under 1.30 7,467 4,426 59.3 3,041 40.7 1,629 21.8 194 2.6

Under 1.85 11,657 7,538 64.7 4,119 35.3 2,120 18.2 232 2.0

1.85 and over 19,477 18,257 93.7 1,220 6.3 485 2.5 NA NA

Income unknown 7,265 6,263 86.2 1,002 13.8 465 6.4 NA NA

Area of residence:6

Inside metropolitan area 33,390 28,071 84.1 5,319 15.9 2,542 7.6 266 .8

In principal cities7 10,855 8,749 80.6 2,106 19.4 1,016 9.4 156 1.4

Not in principal cities 17,672 15,350 86.9 2,322 13.1 1,151 6.5 71 .4

Outside metropolitan area 5,009 3,986 79.6 1,023 20.4 527 10.5 32 .6

Census geographic region:

Northeast 6,370 5,388 84.6 982 15.4 431 6.8 51 .8

Midwest 7,888 6,651 84.3 1,237 15.7 628 8.0 47 .6

South 14,687 12,135 82.6 2,552 17.4 1,238 8.4 132 .9

West 9,454 7,884 83.4 1,570 16.6 772 8.2 68 .7

NA = Not reported; fewer than 10 households in the survey with this characteristic had very low food security among children.

1Totals exclude households for which food security status is unknown because they did not give a valid response to any of the questions in the 

food security scale. In 2016, these exclusions represented 84,000 households with children (0.2 percent of all households with children). 

2Food-insecure households are those with low or very low food security among adults or children or both.

3In some food-insecure households with children, only adults were food insecure. Households with food-insecure children are those with low or 

very low food security among children.

4Households with children in complex living arrangements, e.g., children of other relatives or unrelated roommate or boarder.

5Hispanics may be of any race. 

6Metropolitan area residence is based on 2013 Office of Management and Budget delineation. Prevalence rates by area of residence are 

comparable with those for 2014 and 2015 but are not precisely comparable with those of earlier years. 

7Households within incorporated areas of the largest cities in each metropolitan area. Residence inside or outside of principal cities is not 

identified for about 15 percent of households with children in metropolitan statistical areas.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Current Population 

Survey Food Security Supplement.
17

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Prevalence rates of food insecurity declined from 2015 to 2016 among White, non-Hispanic-headed 

households (from 10.0 percent in 2015 to 9.3 percent in 2016) and households living in suburbs and 

exurbs or the other metropolitan areas outside principal cities (from 10.4 percent in 2015 to 9.5 

percent in 2016) (fig. 4). There were no statistically significant increases in food insecurity.

The prevalence of very low food security declined significantly from 2015 to 2016 among singlefather families with children (from 8.2 percent in 2015 to 5.1 percent in 2016); White, non-Hispanicheaded households (from 4.3 percent in 2015 to 3.8 percent in 2016); households living in suburban 

and exurban areas (from 4.2 percent in 2015 to 3.5 percent in 2016); and in the Northeast (from 

4.7 percent in 2015 to 3.8 percent in 2016) (fig. 5). There was a statistically significant increase in 

very low food security for Black, non-Hispanic-headed households (from 7.9 percent in 2015 to 9.7 

percent in 2016).

Prevalence of Food Insecurity by State 

The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably from State to State. In addition to householdlevel characteristics such as income, employment, and household structure, the prevalence of food 

security is also affected by State-level characteristics such as average wages, cost of housing, and 

participation in nutrition assistance programs (Bartfeld et al., 2006). Prevalence rates for 3 years, 

2014-16, were averaged to provide more reliable statistics at the State level (table 4). Estimated prevalence rates of food insecurity during this 3-year period ranged from 8.7 percent in Hawaii to 18.7 

percent in Mississippi; estimated prevalence rates of very low food security ranged from 3.0 percent 

in Hawaii and Delaware to 7.7 percent in Alabama and Louisiana.17

The margin of error for the State prevalence rates should be taken into consideration when interpreting these statistics, especially when comparing prevalence rates across States. The margin of 

error reflects sampling variation—the uncertainty associated with estimates that are based on information from a limited number of households in each State. The margins of error presented in table 4 

indicate the range (above or below the estimated prevalence rate) that is 90 percent likely to include 

the true prevalence rate. For example, considering the margins of error, it is not certain that the 

prevalence of very low food security was higher in Alabama and Louisiana than in the States with 

the next eight highest prevalence rates.

Taking into account margins of error of the State and U.S. estimates, the prevalence of food insecurity was higher (i.e., statistically significantly higher) than the national average in 15 States (AL, 

AR, AZ, IN, KY, LA, ME, MS, NC, NM, OH, OK, OR, TX, and WV) and lower than the national 

average in 17 States (CA, CO, DE, FL, HI, IA, IL, MA, MD, MN, ND, NH, NJ, SD, VA, VT, 

and WI) and the District of Columbia.18 In the remaining 18 States, differences from the national 

average were not statistically significant. The prevalence of very low food security was higher than 

the national average in 12 States (AL, AR, IN, KY, LA, ME, MI, MS, NM, OH, OK, and WV), 

lower than the national average in 10 States (AK, CA, DE, HI, MD, MN, ND, NH, NJ, and NY) and 

the District of Columbia, and not significantly different from the national average in 28 States.

17A map of the States showing the prevalence of food insecurity for 2014-16 is available for download on the ERS website.

18Standard error of difference assumes that there is no correlation between national and individual State estimates.
18

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Figure 4

Prevalence of food insecurity, 2015 and 2016

*Change from 2015 to 2016 was statistically significant with 90-percent confidence (t > 1.645).

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2015 and 2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

2015

2016

Percent of households

0 10 20 30 40

All households

Household composition:

 With children < 18 yrs

 With children < 6 yrs

 Married-couple families

 Female head, no spouse

 Male head, no spouse

 With no children < 18 yrs

 More than one adult

 Women living alone

 Men living alone

 With elderly

 Elderly living alone

Race/ethnicity of households:

 White, non-Hispanic

 Black, non-Hispanic

 Hispanic

 Other, non-Hispanic

Household income-to-poverty ratio:

 Under 1.00

 Under 1.30

 Under 1.85

 1.85 and over

Area of residence:

 Inside metropolitan area

 In principal cities

 Not in principal cities

 Outside metropolitan area

Census geographic region:

 Northeast

 Midwest

 South

 West

*

*
19

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Figure 5

Prevalence of very low food security, 2015 and 2016

* Change from 2015 to 2016 was statistically significant with 90-percent confidence (t > 1.645).

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2015 and 2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

2015

2016

Percent of households

0 5 10 15 20

All households

Household composition:

 With children < 18 yrs

 With children < 6 yrs

 Married-couple families

 Female head, no spouse

 Male head, no spouse

 With no children < 18 yrs

 More than one adult

 Women living alone

 Men living alone

 With elderly

 Elderly living alone

Race/ethnicity of households:

 White, non-Hispanic

 Black, non-Hispanic

 Hispanic

 Other, non-Hispanic

Household income-to-poverty ratio:

 Under 1.00

 Under 1.30

 Under 1.85

 1.85 and over

Area of residence:

 Inside metropolitan area

 In principal cities

 Not in principal cities

 Outside metropolitan area

Census geographic region:

 Northeast

 Midwest

 South

 West

*

*

*

*

*
20

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Table 4

Prevalence of household food insecurity and very low food security by State, 2014-16 average 

Number of households

Food insecurity

(low or very low food security) Very low food security

States

Average 

2014-161 Interviewed Prevalence Margin of error2 Prevalence Margin of error2

Number Number Percent

Percentage 

points Percent

Percentage 

points

U.S. 125,203,000 124,067 13.0 0.21 5.2 0.13

AK 263,000 1,436 12.7 1.56 3.6 * 0.77

AL 1,993,000 2,387 18.1 * 1.86 7.7 * 1.28

AR 1,194,000 2,236 17.5 * 1.65 6.8 * 1.11

AZ 2,648,000 1,874 14.6 * 1.57 5.8 0.98

CA 13,829,000 9,432 11.8 * 0.71 4.1 * 0.38

CO 2,293,000 1,564 10.3 * 1.45 4.3 0.94

CT 1,435,000 1,350 12.3 1.76 6.4 1.44

DC 324,000 2,584 11.4 * 1.08 4.0 * 0.75

DE 388,000 1,489 10.8 * 1.48 3.0 * 0.80

FL 8,194,000 5,160 12.0 * 0.86 4.7 0.54

GA 4,015,000 2,813 14.0 1.17 5.6 0.73

HI 464,000 1,662 8.7 * 1.33 3.0 * 0.63

IA 1,276,000 1,564 10.7 * 1.48 4.6 1.06

ID 634,000 1,812 12.1 1.44 4.3 0.89

IL 5,012,000 3,584 11.1 * 1.10 4.7 0.77

IN 2,640,000 2,097 15.2 * 1.55 6.8 * 1.08

KS 1,183,000 1,697 14.5 1.70 5.5 1.11

KY 1,812,000 1,690 17.3 * 3.14 7.4 * 1.84

LA 1,817,000 2,800 18.3 * 1.50 7.7 * 0.99

MA 2,786,000 2,387 10.3 * 1.21 4.4 0.87

MD 2,303,000 1,723 10.1 * 1.52 3.9 * 0.89

ME 577,000 1,348 16.4 * 2.46 7.4 * 1.92

MI 3,998,000 2,789 14.3 1.62 6.2 * 0.98

MN 2,194,000 1,825 9.7 * 1.49 3.6 * 0.76

MO 2,436,000 1,900 14.2 1.59 6.2 1.01

MS 1,143,000 2,366 18.7 * 1.48 6.9 * 0.73

MT 441,000 2,655 12.9 1.35 5.7 0.81

NC 3,994,000 2,788 15.1 * 1.55 5.7 1.07

ND 320,000 1,980 8.8 * 1.19 3.3 * 0.77

NE 757,000 1,599 14.7 1.86 5.7 1.23

NH 534,000 1,860 9.6 * 1.29 3.8 * 0.86

NJ 3,367,000 2,400 11.1 * 1.38 4.1 * 0.74

NM 817,000 2,191 17.6 * 1.56 6.8 * 1.09

NV 1,138,000 1,708 12.1 1.56 4.7 0.90

NY 7,819,000 4,736 12.5 0.93 4.3 * 0.54

OH 4,704,000 3,440 14.8 * 1.27 6.3 * 0.79

OK 1,567,000 1,874 15.2 * 1.57 6.3 * 1.03

OR 1,602,000 1,823 14.6 * 1.41 6.2 1.24

PA 5,156,000 3,438 12.5 1.29 4.5 0.72

RI 440,000 1,233 12.8 1.89 6.1 1.19

SC 2,004,000 1,969 13.0 1.57 4.9 0.90

SD 349,000 1,470 10.6 * 1.96 4.2 1.08

TN 2,660,000 2,408 13.4 1.24 5.8 0.76

TX 10,023,000 6,240 14.3 * 0.92 5.6 0.60

UT 972,000 1,605 11.5 1.69 4.6 1.09

VA 3,216,000 2,363 9.9 * 1.23 4.8 0.85

VT 260,000 1,879 10.1 * 1.33 4.3 0.92

WA 2,828,000 2,230 11.6 1.46 4.8 0.80

WI 2,385,000 2,093 10.7 * 1.51 4.2 1.13

WV 760,000 2,621 14.9 * 1.73 6.2 * 0.97

WY 234,000 1,895 12.7 1.77 4.9 0.96

*Difference from U.S. average was statistically significant with 90-percent confidence (t > 1.645). Standard error of differences assumes that there is no 

correlation between national and individual State estimates.

1Totals exclude households for which food security status is unknown because household respondents did not give a valid response to any of the questions 

in the food security scale. These exclusions represented about 0.2 percent of all households in 2014, 0.3 percent in 2015, and 0.3 percent in 2016.

2Margin of error with 90-percent confidence (1.645 times the standard error of the estimated prevalence rate). Standard errors were estimated using 

balanced repeated replication (BRR) methods based on replicate weights for the CPS Food Security Supplement.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Current 

Population Survey (CPS) Food Security Supplements.
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State-level prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security for the period 2014-16 are 

compared with 3-year average rates for 2011-13 and 2004-06 in table 5. The prevalence rates for 

2014-16 are repeated from table 4. The prevalence rates for the immediate 3-year period, 2011-13, 

were reported previously in Household Food Security in the United States in 2013 (Coleman-Jensen 

et al., 2014). The 2004-06 prevalence rates were reported previously in Household Food Security 

in the United States, 2006 (Nord et al., 2007) and are presented as a baseline to assess changes in 

State-level food security conditions over the past decade.19

There was a statistically significant percentage-point increase in the prevalence of food insecurity 

from 2011-13 to 2014-16 in 1 State (NM), and food insecurity declined significantly in 16 States 

(AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, HI, ID, MD, MO, NV, NY, TN, TX, UT, VT, and WA). During the same 

period, the prevalence of very low food security increased significantly in two States (LA and RI) 

and declined significantly in nine States (CA, DE, FL, HI, ID, MO, NV, NY, and VT). There was a 

statistically significant percentage point increase in the prevalence of food insecurity from 2004-06 

to 2014-16 in 27 States, and food insecurity declined significantly in 2 States (TX and UT). The 

prevalence of very low food security increased significantly from 2004-06 to 2014-16 in 29 States, 

and very low food security declined significantly in 1 State (AK). Changes not marked as statistically significant (*) in table 5 were within ranges that could have resulted from sampling variation 

(that is, a non-zero difference between sample estimates, based on the households that happen to 

be chosen for the sample, which is consistent with no actual change in food security in the State’s 

general population). 

19Prevalence rates for 1996-98 reported in Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Hunger, by State, 1996-1998 (Nord et 

al., 1999) are not directly comparable with the rates reported here because of differences in screening procedures in the 

CPS Food Security Supplements from 1995 to 1998. Statistics for 1996-1998 adjusted to be comparable with those for 

recent years are presented in Statistical Supplement to Food Security in the United States in 2010, table S-4 (ColemanJensen et al., 2011). Standard errors of State-level estimates for 2003-05 were calculated using jackknife replication 

methods with “month-in-sample” groups considered as separate independent samples (see Nord et al., 1999). 
22

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Table 5

Change in prevalence of household food insecurity and very low food security by State averages, 

2014-16, 2011-13 , and 2004-061 

States

Food insecurity (low or very low food security) Very low food security

Average 

2014-16

Average 

2011-13

Average 

2004-06

Change 

2011-13 

to

2014-16 

Change 

2004-06

to

2014-16

Average 

2014-16

Average 

2011-13

Average 

2004-06

Change 

2011-13 

to

2014-16 

Change 

2004-06 

to

2014-16

————— Percent ————— Percentage points ————— Percent ————— Percentage points

U.S. 13.0 14.6 11.3 -1.6* 1.7* 5.2 5.7 3.9 -0.5* 1.3*

AK 12.7 11.8 12.6 .9 .1 3.6 4.5 5.1 -.9 -1.5*

AL 18.1 16.7 12.1 1.4 6.0* 7.7 7.0 3.3 .7 4.4*

AR 17.5 21.2 14.3 -3.7* 3.2* 6.8 8.4 5.8 -1.6 1.0

AZ 14.6 15.6 13.1 -1.0 1.5 5.8 6.3 4.3 -.5 1.5*

CA 11.8 15.0 10.9 -3.2* .9 4.1 5.6 3.7 -1.5* .4

CO 10.3 13.9 12.0 -3.6* -1.7 4.3 5.5 4.4 -1.2 -.1

CT 12.3 13.4 8.6 -1.1 3.7* 6.4 5.0 2.7 1.4 3.7*

DC 11.4 13.4 12.5 -2.0 -1.1 4.0 5.2 3.8 -1.2 .2

DE 10.8 12.9 7.8 -2.1 3.0* 3.0 5.1 2.6 -2.1* .4

FL 12.0 14.1 8.9 -2.1* 3.1* 4.7 5.9 3.1 -1.2* 1.6*

GA 14.0 16.6 12.6 -2.6* 1.4 5.6 6.0 5.0 -.4 .6

HI 8.7 12.9 7.8 -4.2* .9 3.0 4.7 2.8 -1.7* .2

IA 10.7 11.9 11.4 -1.2 -.7 4.6 4.4 3.9 .2 .7

ID 12.1 15.1 12.7 -3.0* -.6 4.3 5.9 3.5 -1.6* .8

IL 11.1 12.5 9.8 -1.4 1.3 4.7 4.4 3.5 .3 1.2*

IN 15.2 14.1 10.8 1.1 4.4* 6.8 6.1 4.0 .7 2.8*

KS 14.5 15.2 12.5 -.7 2.0* 5.5 6.0 4.5 -.5 1.0

KY 17.3 16.4 13.6 .9 3.7* 7.4 6.7 4.6 .7 2.8*

LA 18.3 16.5 14.4 1.8 3.9* 7.7 5.5 5.0 2.2* 2.7*

MA 10.3 10.6 8.1 -.3 2.2* 4.4 3.9 3.0 .5 1.4*

MD 10.1 13.3 9.5 -3.2* .6 3.9 4.9 3.9 -1.0 .0

ME 16.4 15.1 12.9 1.3 3.5* 7.4 7.1 5.3 .3 2.1*

MI 14.3 13.9 12.2 .4 2.1* 6.2 5.7 4.6 .5 1.6*

MN 9.7 10.8 8.2 -1.1 1.5 3.6 4.4 3.2 -.8 .4

MO 14.2 16.9 12.3 -2.7* 1.9 6.2 8.1 4.4 -1.9* 1.8*

MS 18.7 21.1 18.1 -2.4 .6 6.9 7.2 6.4 -.3 .5

MT 12.9 11.8 9.9 1.1 3.0* 5.7 4.9 4.3 .8 1.4*

NC 15.1 17.3 12.9 -2.2 2.2* 5.7 6.3 4.4 -.6 1.3*

ND 8.8 8.7 6.4 .1 2.4* 3.3 3.1 2.2 .2 1.1*

NE 14.7 13.8 9.5 .9 5.2* 5.7 5.2 3.8 .5 1.9*

NH 9.6 10.2 7.4 -.6 2.2* 3.8 4.6 2.2 -.8 1.6*

NJ 11.1 11.4 7.7 -.3 3.4* 4.1 4.8 2.1 -.7 2.0*

NM 17.6 13.2 16.1 4.4* 1.5 6.8 5.1 5.8 1.7 1.0

NV 12.1 16.2 8.8 -4.1* 3.3* 4.7 6.9 3.2 -2.2* 1.5*

NY 12.5 14.0 9.8 -1.5* 2.7* 4.3 5.2 3.2 -.9* 1.1*

OH 14.8 16.0 12.7 -1.2 2.1* 6.3 7.2 4.1 -.9 2.2*

OK 15.2 15.5 14.6 -.3 .6 6.3 6.7 5.3 -.4 1.0

OR 14.6 15.2 11.9 -.6 2.7* 6.2 6.1 4.4 .1 1.8*

PA 12.5 11.9 10.0 .6 2.5* 4.5 4.8 3.3 -.3 1.2*

RI 12.8 14.4 11.3 -1.6 1.5 6.1 4.6 3.7 1.5* 2.4*

SC 13.0 14.1 14.7 -1.1 -1.7 4.9 5.3 5.9 -.4 -1.0

SD 10.6 12.6 9.5 -2.0 1.1 4.2 4.6 3.3 -.4 .9

TN 13.4 17.4 12.5 -4.0* .9 5.8 7.0 4.3 -1.2 1.5*

TX 14.3 18.0 15.9 -3.7* -1.6* 5.6 6.3 5.3 -.7 .3

UT 11.5 14.3 14.5 -2.8* -3.0* 4.6 4.6 5.1 .0 -.5

VA 9.9 9.5 7.9 .4 2.0* 4.8 3.8 2.8 1.0 2.0*

VT 10.1 13.2 9.6 -3.1* .5 4.3 6.1 4.3 -1.8* .0

WA 11.6 14.3 10.3 -2.7* 1.3 4.8 5.6 3.6 -.8 1.2*

WI 10.7 11.6 8.9 -.9 1.8* 4.2 5.0 2.7 -.8 1.5*

WV 14.9 14.4 9.3 .5 5.6* 6.2 5.1 3.2 1.1 3.0*

WY 12.7 14.6 10.6 -1.9 2.1* 4.9 5.5 3.7 -.6 1.2

*Change was statistically significant with 90-percent confidence (t > 1.645).

1Percentages exclude households for which food security status is unknown because household respondents did not give a valid 

response to any of the questions in the food security scale.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Current 

Population Survey Food Security Supplements.
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Household Spending on Food

This section provides information on how much households spent on food, as reported in the 

December 2016 food security survey. Food insecurity is a condition that arises from lack of money 

and other resources to acquire food. In most households, the majority of food consumed by household members is purchased, either from supermarkets or grocery stores—to be prepared and eaten 

at home—or from cafeterias, restaurants, or vending machines to be eaten outside the home. The 

amount of money a household spends on food thus provides insight into how adequately the household is meeting its food needs.20 When a household reduces food spending below some minimum 

level, such as USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan, because of constrained resources, aspects of food insecurity such as disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake may result. 

Methods

The household food expenditure statistics in this report are based on usual weekly spending for food, 

as reported by respondents after they were given a chance to reflect on the household’s actual food 

spending during the previous week. Respondents were first asked to report the amounts of money 

their households had spent on food in the week prior to the interview, including any purchases made 

with SNAP benefits (formerly called food stamps) at:

•	 supermarkets and grocery stores;

•	 stores other than supermarkets and grocery stores, such as meat markets, produce stands,

bakeries, warehouse clubs, and convenience stores;

•	 restaurants, fast food places, cafeterias, and vending machines; and

•	 “...any other kind of place.”21

Total spending for food, based on responses to this series of questions, was verified with the respondent, and the respondent was then asked how much the household usually spent on food during 

a week.22 Analyses by ERS researchers have found that usual food expenditures estimated from 

data collected by this method were consistent with estimates from the Consumer Expenditure 

Survey (CES)—the principal source of data on U.S. household expenditures for goods and services 

(Oliveira and Rose, 1996; Nord, 2009b). 

20Food spending is only an indirect indicator of food consumption. It understates food consumption in households that 

receive food from in-kind programs, such as the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, WIC, meal programs for children in childcare and for the elderly, and private charitable organizations. (Purchases with SNAP benefits, 

however, are counted as food spending in the CPS food security survey.) Food spending also understates food consumption in households that acquire a substantial part of their food supply through gardening, hunting, or fishing, as well as 

in households that obtain groceries from friends or relatives or eat more meals at friends’ or relatives’ homes than they 

provide to friends or relatives. Food spending also understates food consumption in geographical areas with relatively 

low food prices and overstates consumption in areas with high food prices.

21For spending in the first two categories of stores, respondents were also asked how much of the amount was for 

“nonfood items such as pet food, paper products, alcohol, detergents, or cleaning supplies.” These amounts are subtracted 

from total spending at each of these stores to arrive at spending for food.

22Beginning with the 2015 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement, food-spending amounts are categorized in public-use data. Categorizing the dollar amounts reduces the risk of disclosure and is now standard for data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. ERS analysis suggests that this change has little effect on the estimates of median food 

spending reported here, which use the categorical food-spending data and are not precisely comparable with estimates 

published in previous annual food security reports. Changes in food spending from 2015 described in the text are based 

on comparable estimates of 2015 categorical food-spending data. 
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Food spending was adjusted for household size and composition in two ways. The first adjustment was calculated by dividing each household’s usual weekly food expenditure by the number 

of persons in the household, yielding the “usual weekly food spending per person” for that household. The second adjustment accounts more precisely for the different food needs of households by 

comparing each household’s usual food spending to the estimated cost of the Thrifty Food Plan for 

that household in December 2016.23 The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP)—developed by USDA—serves as 

a national standard for a nutritious, minimal-cost diet. It represents a set of “market baskets” of food 

that people in specific age and gender categories could consume at home to maintain a healthful 

diet that meets current dietary standards, taking into account the food consumption patterns of U.S. 

households (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, 2007).24

Each household’s reported usual weekly food spending was divided by the household-specific cost of 

the TFP, based on the age and gender of each household member and the number of persons in the 

household (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, 2016).25

The medians of each of the two food-spending measures (spending per person per week and 

spending relative to the cost of the TFP) were estimated at the national level and for households in 

various categories to represent the usual weekly food spending of the typical household in each category. Medians are reported rather than averages (means) because medians are not unduly affected 

by the few unexpectedly high values of usual food spending that are believed to be reporting or data 

entry errors. Thus, the median better reflects what a typical household spent. 

About 7.7 percent of households interviewed in the CPS food security survey did not respond to the 

food-spending questions or reported zero usual food spending and were excluded from the analysis. 

As a result, the total number of households represented in tables 6 and 7 is somewhat smaller than 

that in tables 1 and 2, and food-spending estimates may not be fully representative of all households 

in the United States.26

Food Expenditures by Selected Household Characteristics

In 2016, the typical U.S. household spent $50.00 per person each week for food (table 6). Median 

household food spending relative to the cost of the TFP—which adjusts for food price inflation and 

adjusts more precisely for the food needs of persons in different age-gender categories—was 1.22, 

up from 1.18 in 2015 (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2016). That is, in 2016, the typical household spent 22 

percent more on food than the cost of the TFP for that household. 

Households with children under age 18 generally spent less for food, relative to the cost of the TFP, 

than those without children. The typical household with children spent 12 percent more than the cost 

of the TFP on food, while the typical household with no children spent 32 percent more than the 

cost of the TFP. Median food expenditures relative to the cost of the TFP were lower for households 

23The cost of the TFP is revised each month to account for inflation in food prices. For this report, TFP costs are estimated by ERS separately for Alaska and Hawaii, using adjustment factors calculated from USDA’s TFP costs for those 

States for the second half of 2016.

24The TFP, in addition to its use as a research tool, is used as a basis for setting the maximum SNAP benefit amounts. 

25The cost of a TFP for a household is calculated under the assumption that all household members purchase and 

prepare food together. 

26Households that were unable or unwilling to report food spending were less likely to be food insecure than those that 

did report food spending (8.1 percent compared with 12.7 percent). Food spending may, therefore, be slightly underestimated from these data.
25

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Table 6

Weekly household food spending per person and relative to the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan 

(TFP), 2016

Category

Number of 

households1

Median weekly food spending

Per person

Relative to cost 

of TFP

1,000 Dollars Ratio

All households 115,482 50.00 1.22

Household composition:

With children < 18 yrs 35,965 40.00 1.12

At least one child < 6 yrs 15,587 37.50 1.14

Married-couple families 23,570 40.00 1.17

Female head, no spouse 9,137 36.67 1.03

Male head, no spouse 2,760 40.00 1.07

Other household with child2 498 33.33 .97

With no children < 18 yrs 79,517 60.00 1.32

More than one adult 47,876 50.00 1.21

Women living alone 17,327 60.00 1.35

Men living alone 14,315 80.00 1.58

With elderly 32,129 50.00 1.20

Elderly living alone 11,605 60.00 1.30

Race/ethnicity of households:

White, non-Hispanic 77,356 50.00 1.32

Black, non-Hispanic 14,264 43.33 1.08

Hispanic3 15,477 43.33 1.13

Other, non-Hispanic 8,384 50.00 1.21

Household income-to-poverty ratio:

Under 1.00 12,647 40.00 .96

Under 1.30 16,954 40.00 .96

Under 1.85 26,935 40.00 1.01

1.85 and over 64,560 56.67 1.38

Income unknown 23,987 50.00 1.20

Area of residence:4

Inside metropolitan area 98,511 50.00 1.26

In principal cities5 33,403 50.00 1.28

Not in principal cities 49,878 50.00 1.29

Outside metropolitan area 16,971 50.00 1.14

Census geographic region:

Northeast 20,171 50.00 1.31

Midwest 25,163 50.00 1.20

South 43,923 50.00 1.21

West 26,224 50.00 1.26

Note: These estimates are based on categorical food spending data rather than on continuous data that were used in 

previous years. Beginning with the 2015 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement, food spending amounts 

are categorized in public-use data. ERS analysis suggests that this change has little effect on the estimates of median 

food spending reported here. 

1Totals exclude households that did not answer the questions about spending on food or reported zero usual food 

spending. These exclusions represented 8.9 percent of all households.

2Households with children in complex living arrangements, e.g., children of other relatives or unrelated roommate or 

boarder.

3Hispanics may be of any race. 

4Metropolitan area residence is based on 2013 Office of Management and Budget delineation. 

5Households within incorporated areas of the largest cities in each metropolitan area. Residence inside or outside of 

principal cities is not identified for about 15 percent of households in metropolitan statistical areas.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.
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with children headed by single women (1.03), single men (1.07), or other households with children 

(0.97) than for married couples with children (1.17). Food spending relative to the cost of the TFP 

below 1.0 indicates low food expenditures that may be inadequate since the TFP was designed to be 

a minimal-cost nutritious diet. Median food expenditure relative to the cost of the TFP was highest 

for men living alone (1.58).

Median food expenditures relative to the cost of the TFP were lower for Black non-Hispanic (1.08) 

and Hispanic households (1.13) than for White non-Hispanic households (1.32). This pattern is 

consistent with the lower average incomes and higher prevalence rates of food insecurity for these 

racial and ethnic minorities.

As expected, households with higher incomes spent more money on food than lower income households.27 The typical household with income below the poverty line spent about 4 percent less than 

the cost of the TFP, while the typical household with income above 185 percent of the poverty line 

spent 38 percent more than the cost of the TFP. 

Median food spending relative to the cost of the TFP was lower for households in nonmetropolitan 

areas (1.14) than for those inside metropolitan statistical areas (1.26). Regionally, median spending 

on food relative to the cost of the TFP was somewhat lower in the Midwest (1.20) and South (1.21) 

than in other regions.

Food Expenditures and Household Food Security

Food-secure households typically spent more on food than food-insecure households. Median 

food spending relative to the cost of the TFP was 1.29 among food-secure households, compared 

with 1.00 among food-insecure households (table 7). Taking into account estimated food need, the 

median food-secure household spent approximately 29 percent more for food than the median foodinsecure household in 2016 (estimated as 1.29/1.00=1.29).28

27However, food spending does not rise proportionately with income increases, so high-income households actually 

spend a smaller proportion of their income on food than low-income households.

28The pattern of higher food spending among food-secure households compared with food-insecure households was also 

found in USDA’s National Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) data (Tiehen, Newman, and Kirlin, 2017).
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Table 7

Weekly household food spending per person and relative to the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan 

(TFP) by food security status, 2016

Category

Number of 

households1

Median weekly food spending

Per person

Relative to cost 

of TFP

1,000 Dollars Ratio

All households 115,482 50.00 1.22

Food security status:

Food-secure households 100,640 50.00 1.29

Food-insecure households 14,656 40.00 1.00

Households with low food security 8,883 40.00 1.05

Households with very low food security 5,772 40.00 .93

Note: These estimates are based on categorical food spending data rather than on continuous data that were used in 

previous years. Beginning with the 2015 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement, food spending amounts 

are categorized in public-use data. ERS analysis suggests that this change has little effect on the estimates of median food 

spending reported here. 

1Total for all households excludes households that did not answer the questions about spending on food or reported 

zero usual spending for food. These represented 8.9 percent of all households. Totals in the bottom section also exclude 

households that did not answer any of the questions in the food security scale.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 

2016 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.
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Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs and 

Food Security

Households with limited resources employ a variety of methods to help meet their food needs. Some 

participate in one or more of the Federal food and nutrition assistance programs or obtain food from 

emergency food providers in their communities to supplement the food they purchase. Households that 

turn to Federal and community food and nutrition assistance programs typically do so because they 

are having difficulty meeting their food needs. The use of such programs by low-income households 

provides insight into the extent of these households’ difficulties in obtaining enough food. The relationship between food security status and use of food and nutrition assistance programs also provides 

insight into the ways low-income households cope with difficulties in acquiring adequate food.

This section presents information about the food security status of households that participated 

in the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, SNAP, the National School 

Lunch Program, and WIC (see box, “Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs,” p. 29). It 

also provides information about the extent to which food-insecure households participated in these 

programs. Total participation in the Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, participation 

rates of eligible households in those programs, and characteristics of participants in the programs are 

not described in this report. Extensive information on those topics is available from USDA’s Food 

and Nutrition Service (FNS).29

Statistical Supplement tables S-11 to S-16 provide information on food spending by participants and 

low-income nonparticipants in selected Federal and community food and nutrition assistance programs 

and about the extent to which households obtained assistance from community food pantries and emergency kitchens (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2017).

Methods

The December 2016 CPS food security survey included questions about the use of Federal food 

and nutrition assistance programs. All households with reported annual incomes below 185 percent 

of the Federal poverty threshold were asked these questions. In order to minimize the burden on 

respondents, households with annual incomes above that range were not asked the questions unless 

they indicated some level of difficulty in meeting their food needs on the first of the two preliminary 

screener questions asked of all households (listed in footnote 5, p. 4) The questions analyzed in this 

section are:

•	 During the past 12 months ... did anyone in this household get SNAP or food stamp benefits?30

29Information on Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, including participation rates and characteristics of 

participants, is available from the FNS website. Additional research findings on the operation and effectiveness of these 

programs are available from the ERS website.

30The Food Stamp Program was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2008. 

Both names were mentioned in the survey question, as well as the State’s name for the program in States that used a different name. 
29

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Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers 15 domestic food and 

nutrition assistance programs. The three largest programs are1: 

•	 The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program. The

program provides monthly benefits to eligible low-income households to purchase food items at 

SNAP authorized retailers. SNAP is available to all individuals who meet financial and nonfinancial 

eligibility criteria. In an average month of fiscal year 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 

2016), SNAP provided benefits to nearly 44.2 million people in the United States (about 14 percent 

of individuals). The average benefit was about $126 per person per month, and total annual Federal 

expenditure for the program was nearly $71 billion. 

•	 The National School Lunch Program. The program operates in over 100,000 public and nonprofit

private schools and residential childcare institutions. All meals served under the program receive 

Federal subsidies, and free or reduced-price lunches are available to low-income students. In fiscal 

year 2016, the program provided lunches to an average of 30.3 million children each school day. 

Sixty-six percent of the lunches served in 2016 were free, and an additional 7 percent were provided 

at reduced prices. 

•	 The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The

program is a federally funded preventive nutrition program that provides grants to States to support 

distribution of supplemental foods, healthcare referrals, and nutrition education for low-income 

pregnant, breastfeeding, and nonbreastfeeding postpartum women, for infants in low-income 

families, and for children in low-income families who are younger than 5 years old and who are 

found to be at nutritional risk. Most State WIC agencies provide vouchers that participants use to 

acquire supplemental food packages at authorized food stores. In fiscal year 2016, WIC served an 

average 7.7 million participants per month at an average monthly cost for food (after rebates to WIC 

from manufacturers) of about $43 per person. 

Households that responded affirmatively were then asked:

•	 In which months were SNAP benefits received?

•	 On what date did you last receive them?

Information from the three questions was used to identify households that received SNAP benefits in 

the 30 days prior to the survey.31

Additional questions about Federal food and nutrition assistance programs analyzed here are: 

•	 During the past 30 days, did any children in the household ... receive free or reduced-price lunches

at school? (Only households with children between the ages of 5 and 18 were asked this question.)

•	 During the past 30 days, did any women or children in this household get food through the

WIC program? (Only households with a child under age 5 or a woman age 15-45 were asked 

this question.)

1For more information, see Oliveira, 2017.

31Note that the CPS household does not always match the SNAP unit. In some households, only some members are 

eligible for SNAP (Czajka et al., 2012; Scherpf, Newman, and Prell, 2015). 
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Prevalence rates of food security, food insecurity, and very low food security were calculated 

for households reporting use of each food and nutrition assistance program and for comparison 

groups of nonparticipating households with incomes and household compositions similar to those 

of food assistance recipients. Statistics for participating households excluded households with 

annual incomes above the ranges specified for the comparison groups.32 The proportions of foodinsecure households participating in each of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance 

programs—SNAP, the National School Lunch Program, and WIC—were calculated, as well as the 

proportion that participated in any of the three programs. These analyses were restricted to households with annual incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line because most households with 

incomes above this range were not asked whether they participated in these programs.

Food Security of Households That Received Federal Food 

and Nutrition Assistance

The relationship between food security and the use of food and nutrition assistance programs is 

complex. There are reasons to expect that households that report using food and nutrition assistance 

programs in a one-time survey can either be more food secure or less food secure than low-income 

households not using those programs. Since the programs provide food and other resources to reduce 

the severity of food insecurity, households are expected to be more food secure after receiving program 

benefits than they were before. On the other hand, it is the more food-insecure households, those 

having greater difficulty meeting their food needs, that seek assistance from the programs.33 An estimated 51.2 percent of households that received SNAP benefits were food insecure, as were 43.0 percent 

of households that received free or reduced-price school lunches and 40.6 percent of those that received 

WIC benefits (table 8). The prevalence of very low food security among households participating in 

SNAP was more than double that of nonparticipating households in the same low-income range (22.7 

percent versus 10.3 percent). For households that received free or reduced-price school lunches, the 

prevalence of very low food security was also higher than for nonparticipating households with schoolage children in the same income range (13.9 percent versus 7.3 percent). 

A possible complicating factor in interpreting table 8 is that food insecurity was measured over a 

12-month period. An episode of food insecurity may have occurred at a different time during the 

year than the use of a specific food and nutrition assistance program. A similar tabulation using 

a 30-day measure of food insecurity largely overcomes this potential problem because measured 

food insecurity and reported use of food and nutrition assistance programs are more likely to refer 

to concurrent conditions when both are referenced to the previous 30 days. That tabulation shows 

patterns of food insecurity and the use of food and nutrition assistance programs that are similar 

to those in table 8, although 30-day food insecurity prevalence rates were somewhat lower than the 

corresponding 12-month rates (see Statistical Supplement table S-15; Coleman-Jensen et al., 2017).

32Some program participants reported annual incomes that were higher than 12 times the program eligibility criteria, 

which are based on monthly income (relative to poverty). They may have had monthly incomes below the monthly eligibility threshold during part of the year, or subfamilies within the household may have had incomes low enough to have 

been eligible.

33This “self-selection” effect is evident in the association between food security and food program participation observed 

in the food security survey. Participating households were less food secure than similar nonparticipating households. More 

complex analysis, using methods to account for this self-targeting, is required to assess the extent to which the programs improve food security (see Gregory, Rabbitt, and Ribar, 2015, for a review of this literature and these methods; also see Mabli 

et al., 2013; Nord, 2013; Nord, 2012; Nord and Prell, 2011; Ratcliffe and McKernan, 2011; Nord and Golla, 2009; Yen et al., 

2008; Wilde and Nord, 2005; Gundersen and Oliveira, 2001; Gundersen and Gruber, 2001; Nelson et al., 1998).
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Table 8

Percentage of households by food security status and participation in selected Federal food and nutrition 

assistance programs, 2016

Category

Food

secure

Food insecure

All

With low food 

security

With very low

food security

Percent

Income less than 130 percent of poverty line:

Received SNAP1 benefits previous 12 months 48.8 51.2 28.5 22.7

Received SNAP benefits all 12 months 50.3 49.7 27.9 21.8

Received SNAP benefits 1 to 11 months 45.4 54.6 29.9 24.7

Did not receive SNAP benefits previous 12 months 75.8 24.2 13.9 10.3

Income less than 185 percent of poverty line; school-age children in household:

Received free or reduced-price school lunch previous 30 days 57.0 43.0 29.1 13.9

Did not receive free or reduced-price school lunch previous 30 days 76.9 23.1 15.8 7.3

Income less than 185 percent of poverty line; children under age 5 in household:

Received WIC2 previous 30 days 59.4 40.6 26.9 13.7

Did not receive WIC previous 30 days 71.9 28.1 20.4 7.7

1SNAP = Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program.

2WIC = Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Current Population Survey 

Food Security Supplement.

Participation in Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance 

Programs by Food-Insecure Households

About 59 percent of food-insecure households reported receiving assistance from one or more of the 

three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the December 

2016 food security survey (table 9). SNAP provided assistance to 43.6 percent of food-insecure 

households; children in 29.8 percent of food-insecure households received free or reduced-price 

school lunches, and women or children in 9.5 percent of food-insecure households received WIC 

food vouchers.34 An estimated 55.6 percent of households classified as having very low food security reported participating in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance 

programs, with the largest share (45.8 percent) participating in SNAP.35

34These may be biased downward. It is known from comparisons between household survey data and administrative 

records that food program participation is underreported by household survey respondents, including those in the CPS 

(Meyer and George, 2011; Parker, 2011; Meyer et al., 2009). This is probably true for food-insecure households as well, 

although the extent of underreporting by these households is not known. Statistics are based on the subsample of households with annual incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line. Not all of these households were eligible for certain 

programs. (For example, many households without pregnant women or children and with incomes above 130 percent of 

poverty would not have been eligible for any of the programs.)

35The statistics in table 9 were also calculated for households that were food insecure during the 30-day period prior 

to the survey. In principle, that analysis is preferable because food security status and use of programs are more certainly 

contemporaneous than when food insecurity is assessed over a 12-month period. However, the results differed only 

slightly from those in table 9 and are not presented in a separate table. In 2016, an estimated 60.3 percent of households 

that were food insecure during the 30-day period prior to the survey participated in SNAP, free or reduced-price school 

lunch, or WIC during that same period. Among households that experienced very low food security in the 30-day period 

prior to the survey, 58 percent participated in SNAP, free or reduced-price school lunch, or WIC during that same period. 
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Table 9

Participation of food-insecure households in selected Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, 2016

Program

Share of food-insecure households 

that participated in the program 

during the previous 30 days1,2

Share of households with very low 

food security that participated in the 

program during the previous 30 days1,2

Percent

SNAP3 43.6 45.8

Free or reduced-price school lunch 29.8 22.8

WIC4 9.5 7.6

Any of the three programs 59.0 55.6

None of the three programs 41.0 44.4

1Analysis is restricted to households with annual incomes less than 185 percent of the poverty line because most households with incomes above 

that range were not asked whether they participated in food assistance programs.

2These statistics understate the extent of food and nutrition program participation because program participation is underreported by household 

survey respondents; see footnote 34.

3SNAP = Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program.

4WIC = Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Current Population 

Survey Food Security Supplement.
33

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