Skip to main content

PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Florida

4 persistent-poverty counties

Florida has 4 persistent-poverty counties and 22 nonmetro counties — home to 338,817 residents living in counties with 30+ years of 20%-or-higher poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 12.6% and child poverty is 16.9%.

4

Persistent-poverty counties

22

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

339K

Residents in PPCs

67

Total counties

Florida by county

← Back to national atlas

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.

Loading county map…

Lower
Higher

Florida at a glance

Poverty rate

12.6%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

16.9%

Under 18

PPC share

6.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

32.8%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

1.48

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.17

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Florida's 324 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 67 in Florida.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Hamilton 0.67
  2. 2 Madison 0.65
  3. 3 Hardee 0.58
  4. 4 Alachua 0.42
  5. 5 Lafayette 0.37

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Gadsden 27.7%
  2. 2 Hamilton 27.3%
  3. 3 Hardee 24.3%
  4. 4 Putnam 23.9%
  5. 5 DeSoto 23.1%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

  1. 1 Hamilton 27.3%
  2. 2 Hardee 24.3%
  3. 3 Madison 20.9%
  4. 4 Alachua 19.7%

Every county in Florida

All 67 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Alachua 2 Yes Housing 19.7% 15.2% 281,751 0.42
Baker 1 — — 13.1% 17.1% 28,186 0.05
Bay 3 — Housing 11.7% 16.2% 181,368 0.12
Bradford 6 — Low emp., Low ed., Housing 19.1% 25.1% 27,888 0.26
Brevard 2 — Retire. 9.9% 13.3% 620,533 0.08
Broward 1 — Housing 12.2% 15.8% 1,946,127 0.05
Calhoun 8 — Low emp., Low ed. 21.2% 30.1% 13,593 0.35
Charlotte 3 — Housing, Retire. 9.6% 12.6% 195,083 0.11
Citrus 3 — Retire. 15.5% 23.2% 158,693 0.14
Clay 1 — — 9.1% 13.4% 223,436 0.04
Collier 2 — Housing, Retire. 10.5% 15.9% 387,681 0.08
Columbia 4 — — 17.0% 21.4% 70,755 0.18
DeSoto 6 — Low emp., Low ed. 23.1% 34.0% 34,719 0.28
Dixie 8 — Low emp., Low ed. 19.3% 34.5% 16,952 0.34
Duval 1 — Housing 14.6% 20.5% 1,007,189 0.06
Escambia 2 — Housing 14.5% 22.1% 323,275 0.10
Flagler 2 — Retire. 9.4% 14.2% 121,710 0.08
Franklin 8 — Low emp., Low ed., Retire. 17.3% 38.6% 12,418 0.33
Gadsden 2 — Low emp. 27.7% 41.6% 43,642 0.15
Gilchrist 2 — Retire. 11.2% 10.3% 18,494 0.08
Glades 8 — Low emp., Low ed. 21.2% 30.2% 12,324 0.35
Gulf 8 — Low emp. 11.6% 15.7% 14,772 0.31
Hamilton 8 Yes Low emp., Low ed. 27.3% 38.5% 13,445 0.67
Hardee 6 Yes Low emp., Low ed., Housing 24.3% 34.1% 25,508 0.58
Hendry 4 — Low ed., Housing 21.6% 25.2% 40,798 0.20
Hernando 1 — Retire. 12.0% 15.5% 201,512 0.05
Highlands 3 — Retire. 15.4% 21.2% 103,808 0.14
Hillsborough 1 — Housing 13.2% 16.5% 1,489,634 0.05
Holmes 8 — Low ed. 14.4% 18.0% 19,626 0.32
Indian River 3 — Retire. 11.4% 17.3% 163,856 0.12
Jackson 6 — Low emp. 18.8% 28.4% 47,652 0.26
Jefferson 2 — — 20.3% 27.7% 14,713 0.12
Lafayette 9 — Low emp., Low ed. 17.8% 23.0% 8,035 0.37
Lake 1 — Housing, Retire. 9.5% 12.8% 398,696 0.04
Lee 2 — Housing, Retire. 11.7% 17.1% 792,692 0.08
Leon 2 — Housing 18.5% 17.6% 295,335 0.11
Levy 2 — Retire. 17.2% 25.0% 44,276 0.11
Liberty 8 — Low emp., Low ed. 20.8% 25.8% 7,650 0.35
Madison 8 Yes Low emp. 20.9% 29.7% 18,113 0.65
Manatee 2 — Housing, Retire. 10.4% 15.4% 416,020 0.08
Marion 2 — Retire. 14.6% 22.3% 387,697 0.10
Martin 2 — Housing, Retire. 11.4% 18.8% 160,464 0.08
Miami-Dade 1 — Housing 14.9% 18.5% 2,685,296 0.06
Monroe 4 — Housing 10.4% 9.2% 81,840 0.15
Nassau 1 — Retire. 9.2% 14.5% 94,653 0.04
Okaloosa 2 — Housing 9.3% 13.7% 214,281 0.07
Okeechobee 4 — — 19.0% 30.0% 40,249 0.19
Orange 1 — Housing 13.0% 16.8% 1,440,471 0.05
Osceola 1 — Housing, Retire. 12.5% 15.6% 406,943 0.05
Palm Beach 1 — Housing, Retire. 11.1% 15.4% 1,507,453 0.04
Pasco 1 — Housing, Retire. 11.1% 14.7% 588,758 0.04
Pinellas 1 — Housing, Retire. 11.4% 13.9% 960,565 0.05
Polk 2 — Housing, Retire. 14.7% 21.8% 760,961 0.10
Putnam 4 — Low ed., Retire. 23.9% 33.7% 74,235 0.21
Santa Rosa 2 — Retire. 8.4% 9.8% 193,719 0.07
Sarasota 2 — Housing, Retire. 8.2% 11.5% 449,011 0.07
Seminole 1 — Housing 9.2% 10.1% 474,912 0.04
St. Johns 1 — Retire. 6.7% 7.4% 292,243 0.03
St. Lucie 2 — Housing, Retire. 11.6% 17.0% 346,237 0.08
Sumter 3 — Low emp., Retire. 9.1% 30.3% 137,536 0.11
Suwannee 6 — Retire. 14.2% 18.0% 44,484 0.24
Taylor 6 — Low emp., Low ed. 17.3% 24.1% 21,422 0.26
Union 8 — Low emp., Low ed. 18.7% 27.0% 15,551 0.34
Volusia 2 — Housing, Retire. 12.2% 17.3% 568,229 0.09
Wakulla 2 — — 5.6% 6.5% 34,608 0.06
Walton 2 — Housing, Retire. 11.4% 18.3% 79,846 0.08
Washington 3 — Low emp., Low ed. 18.9% 27.6% 25,259 0.15

Find a food pantry in Florida

Search Florida's 324 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Florida pantry directory

Florida SNAP

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

Florida 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.

Florida 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