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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in California

2 persistent-poverty counties

California has 2 persistent-poverty counties and 21 nonmetro counties — home to 1,191,471 residents living in counties with 30+ years of 20%-or-higher poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 12.0% and child poverty is 15.1%.

2

Persistent-poverty counties

21

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

1.2M

Residents in PPCs

58

Total counties

California 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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California at a glance

Poverty rate

12.0%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

15.1%

Under 18

PPC share

3.5%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

36.2%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

1.53

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.15

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides California's 602 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 58 in California.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Imperial 0.45
  2. 2 Fresno 0.37
  3. 3 Modoc 0.34
  4. 4 Plumas 0.34
  5. 5 Trinity 0.33

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Modoc 20.3%
  2. 2 Madera 19.9%
  3. 3 Imperial 19.6%
  4. 4 Kern 19.0%
  5. 5 Humboldt 18.9%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

  1. 1 Imperial 19.6%
  2. 2 Fresno 18.7%

Every county in California

All 58 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Alameda 1 — Housing 9.2% 9.1% 1,651,949 0.04
Alpine 8 — — 12.3% 15.4% 1,695 0.31
Amador 6 — Housing 7.8% 4.3% 41,029 0.22
Butte 3 — Housing 18.3% 19.2% 209,470 0.15
Calaveras 6 — Housing 13.4% 17.4% 45,995 0.24
Colusa 6 — Housing 10.8% 13.5% 21,895 0.23
Contra Costa 1 — Housing 8.3% 10.0% 1,161,458 0.03
Del Norte 7 — Low emp., Housing 11.6% 13.4% 27,293 0.27
El Dorado 1 — Housing 8.3% 9.1% 192,299 0.03
Fresno 1 Yes Housing 18.7% 25.5% 1,012,152 0.37
Glenn 6 — Housing 12.4% 15.2% 28,623 0.24
Humboldt 5 — Housing 18.9% 18.2% 135,418 0.23
Imperial 3 Yes Low emp., Housing 19.6% 25.4% 179,319 0.45
Inyo 6 — Housing 10.5% 9.6% 18,803 0.23
Kern 2 — Housing 19.0% 25.8% 910,433 0.11
Kings 3 — Low emp., Housing 16.8% 23.6% 152,830 0.14
Lake 4 — Housing 16.7% 20.1% 68,139 0.18
Lassen 7 — Low emp., Housing 13.7% 15.7% 31,177 0.28
Los Angeles 1 — Housing 13.6% 17.7% 9,848,406 0.05
Madera 1 — Housing 19.9% 27.7% 158,790 0.08
Marin 1 — Housing 7.8% 8.9% 258,765 0.03
Mariposa 8 — Housing 13.9% 18.3% 17,060 0.32
Mendocino 4 — Housing 15.2% 17.4% 90,709 0.17
Merced 2 — Housing 18.4% 25.0% 285,597 0.11
Modoc 8 — — 20.3% 29.6% 8,646 0.34
Mono 7 — Housing 11.0% 15.0% 13,169 0.27
Monterey 2 — Housing 12.6% 18.0% 435,834 0.09
Napa 3 — Housing 8.4% 9.8% 136,070 0.11
Nevada 4 — Housing 10.6% 10.9% 102,452 0.15
Orange 1 — Housing 9.5% 10.9% 3,164,063 0.04
Placer 1 — Housing 6.7% 6.4% 412,435 0.03
Plumas 9 — Pop. loss 10.7% 13.7% 19,607 0.34
Riverside 1 — Housing 11.1% 14.1% 2,449,909 0.04
Sacramento 1 — Housing 12.6% 16.1% 1,584,047 0.05
San Benito 1 — Housing 7.8% 10.7% 66,056 0.03
San Bernardino 1 — Housing 13.6% 18.2% 2,187,816 0.05
San Diego 1 — Housing 10.4% 12.0% 3,282,782 0.04
San Francisco 1 — Housing 10.6% 8.2% 836,321 0.04
San Joaquin 2 — Housing 12.6% 16.5% 787,416 0.09
San Luis Obispo 2 — Housing 12.8% 12.7% 281,486 0.09
San Mateo 1 — Housing 6.5% 6.3% 745,100 0.03
Santa Barbara 2 — Housing 13.8% 15.5% 443,975 0.09
Santa Clara 1 — Housing 6.9% 6.4% 1,903,297 0.03
Santa Cruz 2 — Housing 11.2% 11.0% 266,021 0.08
Shasta 3 — Housing 13.0% 13.9% 181,554 0.13
Sierra 8 — Pop. loss, Housing 12.3% 21.8% 2,731 0.31
Siskiyou 7 — Housing 16.6% 20.1% 43,834 0.29
Solano 2 — Housing 9.7% 12.2% 450,824 0.08
Sonoma 2 — Housing 8.6% 9.3% 485,642 0.07
Stanislaus 2 — Housing 13.1% 17.0% 552,250 0.09
Sutter 3 — Housing 14.8% 19.8% 98,971 0.13
Tehama 4 — Housing 15.4% 20.4% 65,520 0.17
Trinity 8 — Low emp., Low ed., Housing, Retire. 18.0% 15.5% 15,886 0.33
Tulare 2 — Housing 17.8% 24.1% 475,774 0.11
Tuolumne 4 — Housing 10.7% 10.1% 54,873 0.16
Ventura 2 — Housing 9.0% 12.3% 838,259 0.07
Yolo 1 — Housing 16.3% 12.2% 217,782 0.07
Yuba 3 — Housing 15.3% 20.7% 83,079 0.14

Find a food pantry in California

Search California's 602 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

California pantry directory

California SNAP

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

California 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.

California 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