Hot off the Presses: FRAC’s Food Hardship Report

From the Food Research and Action Center (http://www.frac.org):

Today, the Food Research & Action Center released a report, Food Hardship in America: Households with Children Especially Hard Hit, which shows that despite an improving economy, far too many Americans — and, especially, far too many children — still live in households that struggle against hunger.

The report looks at food hardship for the nation, the District of Columbia, and 100 MSAs. Download the full report here (pdf).

How Does Your State Rank?

Key National Findings:

Despite food hardship rates declining (pdf) in 2015 for both households with children and households without children:

• One in five households with children still suffers from food hardship.
• The food hardship rate for households with children (19.2 percent) is considerably higher than the food hardship rate for households without children (14.2 percent).

Key State Findings:

In 2014–2015:

• Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia had at least one in five households with children that struggled with food hardship.
• Eleven of the 15 states with the worst food hardship rates for households with children were in the Southeast and Southwest.
• In the District of Columbia, the food hardship rate for households with children was more than double the rate for households without children.

Key Findings for the Nation’s Largest Urban Areas (Metropolitan Statistical Areas/MSAs):

Of the 100 largest MSAs with Gallup data in 2014 and 2015:

• Forty-five had food hardship rates for households with children above 20 percent.
• Ten had food hardship rates above 25 percent.
• Of the 25 highest food hardship rates for households with children, there were three MSAs in each of the following states: Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee; and two MSAs in each of the following states: California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
• In the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA, the food hardship rate for households with children was more than double the rate for households without children.

About the Report
The question Gallup asks is, “Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” That question is part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey, which also asked respondents how many children lived in their household. In 2015, 176,313 respondents answered these questions, while 176,212 answered them in 2014. FRAC counts “yes” answers to the former question as evidence of food hardship.