PantryPath Research
County-level data on
U.S. food insecurity
Eight atlases. Every U.S. county. Built from Census, USDA, CDC, NCES, and Urban Institute microdata — and freely reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. Each atlas consolidates numbers, methodology, and sources on a single page so reporters, researchers, and advocates can cite with confidence.
8
research atlases
3,144
U.S. counties covered
51
states + DC deep-dives
CC BY 4.0
free to reuse with attribution
What's in the library
PantryPath Research exists because the numbers that decide where federal food assistance lands — the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, the USDA FNS program rolls, the Census ACS cross-tabulations, the NCES school rosters — live in spreadsheets and API endpoints that journalists and advocates rarely see in one place. We consolidate them into county-level atlases, publish the methodology alongside the data, and release everything under CC BY 4.0 so reuse is frictionless.
Each atlas lives at its own URL, with a national hub, 51 state deep-dives, inline methodology, and a full citation list. Every composite index is labeled a visualization aid — not a direct measurement — and the underlying variables are always sourced to federal primary data.
The library
All eight atlases
Every card links to the consolidated hub — numbers, methodology, and sources on a single page.
Programs
SNAP Benefits
Who's enrolled, who falls through the cracks
County-level data on SNAP participation, coverage among poor households, working-poor share, senior and disability take-up — for every U.S. county.
57.1%
of poor households are NOT enrolled in SNAP
- Source
- Census ACS 5-year, 2019–2023
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Geography
Food Deserts
Low-access census tracts, mapped
Six access and health metrics across all 50 states — food insecurity, low-income low-access tracts, diabetes prevalence, and more — sourced from USDA ERS, CDC PLACES, Feeding America Map the Meal Gap, and Census.
13.7%
of U.S. households were food insecure in 2024
- Source
- USDA ERS · CDC PLACES · Feeding America
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Populations
Child Poverty
SAIPE-based child poverty × food risk
County-level atlas built from the Census Bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates — the dataset that allocates Title I school funding. Child poverty is the single strongest structural predictor of child food insecurity.
16.0%
of children 0–17 live below the federal poverty line
- Source
- Census Bureau SAIPE 2023
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Populations
Senior Hunger
Poverty, isolation & SNAP enrollment for 65+
Structural drivers of hunger among Americans 65 and older — senior poverty, living-alone share, SNAP take-up, and a combined social isolation index — for every U.S. county.
38.7%
of income-eligible seniors are enrolled in SNAP
- Source
- Census ACS 5-year, 2019–2023
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Programs
Summer EBT
SUN Bucks: who opts in, who opts out
Summer EBT delivers $120 per eligible child when school is out — but eleven states opted out of the 2025 plan year. Our atlas maps eligible children, enrolled children, and the federal dollars left on the table.
447.7M
in federal benefits forfeited by opt-out states (2025)
- Source
- USDA FNS · Census SAIPE
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Programs
WIC Coverage
Enrollment vs. eligibility — the quiet gap
Nationally, about 4 in 10 people eligible for WIC aren't enrolled. Our atlas maps state coverage rates, unserved populations, and low-income children under six — the eligibility denominator for WIC's nutrition benefits.
$4.0B
eligible women, infants & children are NOT enrolled in WIC
- Source
- USDA FNS · Census ACS
- Coverage
- 51 states + county allocations
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Geography
Rural Poverty
Where hunger has been bad for a generation
Atlas of USDA ERS-designated persistent-poverty counties (20%+ poverty for 30+ years) and the nonmetro counties that span rural America. We layer food-access gaps and PantryPath's own verified-pantry density data.
318
persistent-poverty counties (20%+ poverty for 30+ years)
- Source
- USDA ERS Typology + RUCC · Census ACS
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Populations
School Hunger
Free/reduced lunch, CEP, direct certification
County-level aggregation of NCES Common Core of Data school-level rosters, FRAC's Community Eligibility Provision roster, and Census SAIPE school-age poverty — for every U.S. county.
24.2M
children certified for free or reduced-price school meals
- Source
- NCES CCD · FRAC CEP · Census SAIPE
- Coverage
- 3,144 counties · 51 states
- Vintage
- Updated Apr 2026
Programs
Programs atlases
Atlases built around specific federal nutrition programs — SNAP, WIC, Summer EBT. Who's eligible, who's enrolled, and where the coverage gaps are.
Geography
Geography atlases
Atlases built around place — urban food deserts and rural persistent poverty — where structural food access falls short.
Populations
Populations atlases
Atlases built around specific populations — children, seniors, and school-age kids — with the structural drivers of food insecurity that shape their lives.
How we build these
Data, methodology, and reuse
Every atlas follows the same architecture so reporters and researchers can cite, compare, and verify without learning a new format for each one.
Primary data only
Every statistic traces to a federal primary source — USDA FNS and ERS, Census Bureau (ACS, SAIPE, CPS-FSS), CDC PLACES, NCES Common Core of Data, SSA. Secondary aggregators (Feeding America, FRAC, CBPP) appear as synthesis citations, never as the sole anchor for a number.
Explicit caveats
Composite indexes (risk scores, access gaps) are labeled visualization aids, not measurements. County-allocated state-level numbers are flagged as such. Every limitation inherits into the downstream state and county pages.
Reproducible builds
Each atlas is produced by a single build pipeline that pulls upstream data, joins it, and emits the national, state, and county datasets the pages read. Re-running the pipeline against a fresh vintage regenerates every page.
CC BY 4.0
Reuse the data, the charts, and the narrative in your own reporting or research — just attribute PantryPath Research, 2026. pantrypath.com/research/. Links back help other researchers find the underlying methodology.
Using this data in your reporting or research?
Every atlas page includes full citations, CSV/JSON access paths, and a one-line attribution block. If you're working on a story and need a cut we haven't published, or a county-level export, reach out.