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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in New York

1 persistent-poverty county

New York has 1 persistent-poverty counties and 25 nonmetro counties — home to 1,419,250 residents living in counties with 30+ years of 20%-or-higher poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 13.7% and child poverty is 18.2%.

1

Persistent-poverty counties

25

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

1.4M

Residents in PPCs

62

Total counties

New York 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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New York at a glance

Poverty rate

13.7%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

18.2%

Under 18

PPC share

1.6%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

40.3%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

2.73

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.15

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides New York's 542 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 62 in New York.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Bronx 0.41
  2. 2 Schuyler 0.32
  3. 3 Delaware 0.32
  4. 4 Lewis 0.31
  5. 5 Wyoming 0.30

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Bronx 26.9%
  2. 2 Broome 18.9%
  3. 3 Kings 18.9%
  4. 4 Cattaraugus 17.6%
  5. 5 St. Lawrence 17.4%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

  1. 1 Bronx 26.9%

Every county in New York

All 62 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Albany 2 — Housing 12.9% 15.7% 315,374 0.09
Allegany 7 — Pop. loss 16.8% 22.7% 47,027 0.29
Bronx 1 Yes Housing 26.9% 34.8% 1,419,250 0.41
Broome 3 — — 18.9% 23.8% 197,738 0.15
Cattaraugus 4 — Pop. loss 17.6% 24.2% 76,479 0.18
Cayuga 4 — Pop. loss 13.8% 18.7% 75,464 0.17
Chautauqua 4 — Pop. loss 17.0% 23.1% 126,329 0.18
Chemung 3 — Pop. loss 15.8% 21.4% 82,805 0.14
Chenango 6 — Pop. loss 12.2% 15.2% 46,685 0.24
Clinton 4 — — 13.8% 16.1% 78,961 0.17
Columbia 6 — — 11.4% 16.5% 61,245 0.23
Cortland 4 — — 12.8% 11.7% 46,401 0.16
Delaware 8 — Pop. loss 14.9% 17.9% 44,551 0.32
Dutchess 2 — Housing 8.3% 8.1% 297,144 0.07
Erie 1 — — 14.0% 19.6% 950,044 0.06
Essex 6 — — 11.8% 15.6% 37,077 0.23
Franklin 7 — — 16.5% 23.2% 47,066 0.29
Fulton 4 — — 14.5% 19.2% 52,787 0.17
Genesee 4 — Pop. loss 10.6% 10.2% 57,943 0.15
Greene 6 — Housing 11.0% 12.5% 47,554 0.23
Hamilton 8 — Retire. 10.0% 6.9% 5,102 0.30
Herkimer 2 — — 13.3% 16.7% 59,932 0.09
Jefferson 3 — Low emp., Housing 13.4% 18.3% 116,130 0.13
Kings 1 — Housing 18.9% 25.7% 2,646,306 0.08
Lewis 8 — — 12.2% 17.2% 26,618 0.31
Livingston 1 — — 11.6% 14.8% 61,588 0.05
Madison 2 — — 9.7% 12.7% 67,572 0.08
Monroe 1 — Housing 13.1% 18.7% 754,068 0.05
Montgomery 4 — Housing 14.7% 19.9% 49,461 0.17
Nassau 1 — Housing 5.3% 5.6% 1,388,138 0.02
New York 1 — Housing 15.8% 19.5% 1,627,788 0.06
Niagara 1 — Pop. loss 13.0% 18.3% 211,341 0.05
Oneida 2 — Pop. loss 14.6% 20.3% 229,645 0.10
Onondaga 2 — — 13.9% 21.2% 471,611 0.09
Ontario 1 — — 9.2% 11.1% 112,405 0.04
Orange 2 — Housing 13.0% 19.2% 403,840 0.09
Orleans 1 — Pop. loss 13.0% 16.6% 39,686 0.05
Oswego 2 — Pop. loss 16.5% 25.7% 117,945 0.10
Otsego 7 — — 14.1% 17.9% 59,738 0.28
Putnam 1 — Housing 6.5% 5.3% 97,988 0.03
Queens 1 — Housing 12.2% 15.2% 2,330,124 0.05
Rensselaer 2 — — 11.8% 17.3% 160,341 0.08
Richmond 1 — Housing 10.9% 14.8% 492,734 0.04
Rockland 1 — Housing 15.6% 25.4% 338,936 0.06
Saratoga 2 — — 6.7% 7.6% 237,075 0.06
Schenectady 2 — — 12.5% 16.8% 159,603 0.09
Schoharie 2 — — 10.8% 11.7% 29,979 0.08
Schuyler 8 — Pop. loss 15.1% 20.6% 17,749 0.32
Seneca 6 — — 13.3% 16.7% 33,125 0.24
St. Lawrence 4 — — 17.4% 23.5% 107,796 0.18
Steuben 4 — — 13.7% 18.4% 93,034 0.17
Suffolk 1 — Housing 6.4% 7.3% 1,525,680 0.03
Sullivan 6 — Housing 15.2% 22.0% 79,147 0.25
Tioga 3 — Pop. loss 12.2% 16.7% 48,106 0.12
Tompkins 3 — Housing 15.3% 10.7% 102,879 0.14
Ulster 3 — Housing 14.3% 14.8% 182,109 0.13
Warren 3 — — 9.1% 10.0% 65,560 0.11
Washington 3 — — 10.8% 13.4% 60,883 0.12
Wayne 1 — — 11.3% 13.5% 91,128 0.05
Westchester 1 — Housing 8.9% 10.6% 996,888 0.04
Wyoming 8 — Pop. loss 10.6% 14.6% 39,980 0.30
Yates 6 — — 14.1% 23.0% 24,637 0.24

Find a food pantry in New York

Search New York's 542 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

New York pantry directory

New York SNAP

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

New York 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.

New York 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