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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Alabama

61% certified free/reduced

Across 1,352 public schools serving 744,423 students, 60.7% of Alabama students are certified free or reduced-price. 906 schools (67% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 57.7% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

744K

Students enrolled

1,352

Public schools (CCD)

906

CEP / Provision 2 schools

67

Counties in atlas

Alabama by county

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Toggle between the school-food-access composite, free/reduced eligibility, CEP share, direct-certification rate, and SAIPE school-age poverty. Hover a county to see schools, enrollment, and the underlying certification mix.

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Lower
Higher

Alabama at a glance

Free/reduced

60.7%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

67%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

57.7%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

100%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

20.2%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.70

Composite 0–1

The access score is a 0–1 composite weighted 50% eligibility, 30% CEP share, 20% NSLP share — a visualization and ranking aid, not a direct measurement. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 67 in Alabama.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Lowndes 96.7%
  2. 2 Macon 96.4%
  3. 3 Wilcox 93.3%
  4. 4 Greene 87.0%
  5. 5 Dallas 81.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Autauga 100%
  2. 2 Blount 100%
  3. 3 Bullock 100%
  4. 4 Butler 100%
  5. 5 Cherokee 100%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Jefferson 97K
  2. 2 Mobile 58K
  3. 3 Madison 54K
  4. 4 Baldwin 36K
  5. 5 Shelby 35K

Every county in Alabama

All 67 counties with school counts, enrollment, certification mix, CEP adoption, and the SAIPE 5–17 poverty backdrop.

County Schools Enrollment Free/reduced CEP Direct cert 5–17 poverty Access
Autauga 12 8,977 56.2% 100% 50.3% 16.7% 0.78
Baldwin 46 35,730 54.6% 0% 45.0% 13.0% 0.47
Barbour 8 7,622 72.2% 88% 75.3% 33.2% 0.82
Bibb 8 3,077 68.0% 0% 59.6% 20.9% 0.54
Blount 17 9,084 58.1% 100% 55.6% 15.8% 0.79
Bullock 3 1,367 76.3% 100% 88.4% 37.9% 0.88
Butler 6 2,795 81.0% 100% 77.9% 35.3% 0.91
Calhoun 33 16,615 69.4% 30% 62.9% 25.0% 0.64
Chambers 12 4,083 67.3% 92% 69.2% 25.8% 0.81
Cherokee 7 3,917 67.7% 100% 59.3% 20.3% 0.84
Chilton 12 7,930 75.0% 0% 63.9% 19.3% 0.58
Choctaw 4 1,034 74.7% 100% 79.1% 32.9% 0.87
Clarke 10 3,187 68.8% 100% 73.4% 29.1% 0.84
Clay 4 1,776 74.3% 100% 67.8% 22.9% 0.87
Cleburne 7 2,525 63.2% 100% 53.1% 20.1% 0.82
Coffee 16 10,125 56.0% 13% 48.3% 21.7% 0.52
Colbert 22 8,175 52.1% 95% 56.5% 19.7% 0.75
Conecuh 7 1,411 80.6% 86% 79.7% 42.6% 0.86
Coosa 2 781 63.5% 100% 80.8% 28.2% 0.82
Covington 14 6,299 64.8% 21% 61.7% 21.9% 0.59
Crenshaw 3 2,088 64.3% 100% 69.5% 26.7% 0.82
Cullman 29 12,946 58.3% 83% 51.0% 19.3% 0.74
Dale 14 6,563 66.3% 100% 67.9% 20.9% 0.83
Dallas 21 4,954 81.0% 90% 87.1% 44.2% 0.88
DeKalb 17 12,254 68.8% 100% 68.3% 27.4% 0.84
Elmore 19 13,330 61.0% 95% 53.3% 16.2% 0.79
Escambia 13 5,239 68.9% 77% 69.5% 28.2% 0.78
Etowah 36 15,124 68.6% 97% 64.0% 23.2% 0.83
Fayette 6 2,238 68.6% 100% 60.5% 21.4% 0.84
Franklin 13 6,248 67.9% 100% 63.5% 22.7% 0.84
Geneva 12 4,082 68.0% 75% 61.7% 24.5% 0.77
Greene 3 881 87.0% 100% 89.3% 48.0% 0.93
Hale 6 2,248 68.6% 100% 73.0% 31.7% 0.84
Henry 5 2,539 57.7% 100% 56.7% 22.1% 0.79
Houston 29 14,238 68.7% 93% 66.6% 22.7% 0.82
Jackson 21 7,611 61.6% 100% 56.5% 18.8% 0.81
Jefferson 161 97,047 55.9% 65% 55.4% 21.4% 0.68
Lamar 4 2,176 65.6% 100% 58.3% 22.2% 0.83
Lauderdale 22 12,511 55.9% 95% 53.1% 16.6% 0.77
Lawrence 11 4,673 64.3% 100% 60.4% 18.8% 0.82
Lee 38 24,414 53.6% 0% 46.0% 14.0% 0.47
Limestone 25 23,048 57.2% 0% 51.8% 10.3% 0.49
Lowndes 7 1,173 96.7% 100% 89.3% 44.7% 0.98
Macon 6 1,769 96.4% 100% 83.2% 41.0% 0.98
Madison 81 53,973 45.0% 44% 42.4% 13.5% 0.56
Marengo 10 3,413 69.0% 90% 67.6% 30.9% 0.81
Marion 13 4,579 65.1% 100% 61.0% 22.5% 0.83
Marshall 32 18,833 61.2% 75% 64.0% 20.0% 0.73
Mobile 93 58,390 68.9% 92% 70.3% 24.1% 0.82
Monroe 7 3,031 74.3% 100% 71.8% 27.7% 0.87
Montgomery 56 30,225 68.0% 93% 70.5% 24.5% 0.81
Morgan 39 19,960 61.5% 23% 56.2% 16.5% 0.58
Perry 3 1,218 77.3% 100% 82.8% 53.0% 0.89
Pickens 6 2,249 75.1% 100% 74.0% 30.2% 0.88
Pike 8 3,947 69.4% 100% 70.6% 35.7% 0.85
Randolph 10 3,519 64.8% 100% 65.7% 25.1% 0.82
Russell 16 10,104 77.1% 44% 60.9% 25.2% 0.72
Shelby 42 35,468 43.0% 0% 37.3% 8.7% 0.42
St. Clair 25 13,744 58.6% 0% 50.8% 13.5% 0.49
Sumter 6 1,675 74.0% 100% 67.2% 38.9% 0.84
Talladega 26 10,746 73.3% 100% 67.3% 21.2% 0.87
Tallapoosa 10 5,637 57.0% 100% 66.7% 22.3% 0.78
Tuscaloosa 53 30,249 60.8% 66% 58.0% 20.9% 0.70
Walker 21 10,015 64.5% 100% 60.0% 22.5% 0.82
Washington 7 2,442 67.9% 100% 58.9% 27.4% 0.84
Wilcox 5 1,190 93.3% 100% 88.0% 47.9% 0.97
Winston 12 3,912 65.7% 100% 59.5% 22.7% 0.83

Alabama school meals guide

How free and reduced-price school lunch eligibility works, application steps, and what to do if your child's school is not in CEP.

School meals guide

Summer meals

When the school year ends, NSLP and CEP stop. The Summer Food Service Program and Summer EBT fill the gap for the 452,165 children who rely on school meals in Alabama.

Summer meals guide

Families with children

SNAP, WIC, Head Start, and the full federal-program stack for households with kids — the assistance ecosystem around the school cafeteria.

Families guide

Alabama child poverty

The sibling atlas — county-level child poverty across Alabama. Free/reduced eligibility and child poverty track each other closely but not perfectly.

Alabama child poverty atlas

Alabama pantries

Verified food pantries, food banks, and meal programs across Alabama — open weeknights, weekends, and through the summer gap.

Alabama pantry directory

Methodology

How we aggregated NCES Common Core of Data school-level records to counties, proxied CEP from lunch_program == 2, and layered SAIPE school-age poverty — plus the access-score formula.

Full methodology