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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Massachusetts

0 persistent-poverty counties

Massachusetts has 3 nonmetro counties and no counties flagged by USDA ERS for persistent poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 10.0% and child poverty is 11.8%.

0

Persistent-poverty counties

3

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

0

Residents in PPCs

14

Total counties

Massachusetts 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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Massachusetts at a glance

Poverty rate

10.0%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

11.8%

Under 18

PPC share

0.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

21.4%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

3.55

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.10

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Massachusetts's 248 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 14 in Massachusetts.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Dukes 0.25
  2. 2 Nantucket 0.24
  3. 3 Franklin 0.16
  4. 4 Berkshire 0.12
  5. 5 Hampshire 0.12

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Suffolk 16.5%
  2. 2 Hampden 15.7%
  3. 3 Franklin 12.2%
  4. 4 Bristol 11.6%
  5. 5 Berkshire 11.0%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

Massachusetts has no persistent-poverty counties in the 2025 ERS typology.

Every county in Massachusetts

All 14 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Barnstable 3 — Housing, Retire. 7.4% 9.3% 230,073 0.10
Berkshire 3 — Pop. loss, Housing 11.0% 15.3% 128,047 0.12
Bristol 1 — Housing 11.6% 15.9% 578,436 0.05
Dukes 7 — Housing, Retire. 5.4% 4.4% 20,751 0.25
Essex 1 — Housing 9.4% 12.1% 807,258 0.04
Franklin 4 — Pop. loss, Housing 12.2% 17.0% 70,922 0.16
Hampden 2 — Housing 15.7% 21.9% 462,853 0.10
Hampshire 3 — Housing 10.9% 10.2% 156,595 0.12
Middlesex 1 — Housing 7.5% 7.4% 1,622,896 0.03
Nantucket 7 — Housing, Retire. 3.0% 1.3% 14,299 0.24
Norfolk 1 — Housing 6.6% 5.8% 724,540 0.03
Plymouth 1 — Housing 7.1% 8.1% 531,889 0.03
Suffolk 1 — Housing 16.5% 21.2% 782,172 0.07
Worcester 2 — Housing 10.3% 12.3% 861,664 0.08

Find a food pantry in Massachusetts

Search Massachusetts's 248 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Massachusetts pantry directory

Massachusetts SNAP

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

Massachusetts 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.

Massachusetts 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