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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Arizona

3 persistent-poverty counties

Arizona has 3 persistent-poverty counties and 7 nonmetro counties — home to 221,633 residents living in counties with 30+ years of 20%-or-higher poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 12.8% and child poverty is 17.0%.

3

Persistent-poverty counties

7

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

222K

Residents in PPCs

15

Total counties

Arizona by county

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Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

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Arizona at a glance

Poverty rate

12.8%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

17.0%

Under 18

PPC share

20.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

46.7%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

2.12

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.25

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Arizona's 154 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 15 in Arizona.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Apache 0.69
  2. 2 Santa Cruz 0.57
  3. 3 Navajo 0.51
  4. 4 Greenlee 0.34
  5. 5 Graham 0.30

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Apache 31.2%
  2. 2 Navajo 24.7%
  3. 3 Santa Cruz 20.2%
  4. 4 La Paz 18.4%
  5. 5 Gila 17.8%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

  1. 1 Apache 31.2%
  2. 2 Navajo 24.7%
  3. 3 Santa Cruz 20.2%

Every county in Arizona

All 15 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Apache 8 Yes Low emp., Housing 31.2% 40.3% 65,680 0.69
Cochise 3 — — 15.5% 21.0% 125,458 0.14
Coconino 3 — Housing 17.7% 18.7% 144,643 0.15
Gila 4 — Housing, Retire. 17.8% 27.4% 53,610 0.18
Graham 7 — Low emp. 17.7% 19.7% 38,860 0.30
Greenlee 9 — — 10.8% 12.4% 9,452 0.34
La Paz 6 — Housing 18.4% 29.4% 16,605 0.26
Maricopa 1 — Housing 11.3% 15.1% 4,491,987 0.05
Mohave 3 — Retire. 16.8% 26.6% 217,420 0.14
Navajo 4 Yes Low emp., Housing 24.7% 30.7% 107,744 0.51
Pima 1 — Housing 14.4% 18.7% 1,049,947 0.06
Pinal 1 — Retire. 10.9% 14.3% 449,219 0.04
Santa Cruz 6 Yes Housing 20.2% 27.1% 48,209 0.57
Yavapai 3 — Housing, Retire. 12.6% 17.8% 241,656 0.13
Yuma 3 — Housing 16.5% 22.5% 207,685 0.14

Find a food pantry in Arizona

Search Arizona's 154 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Arizona pantry directory

Arizona SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

Arizona SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

Arizona food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology