PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Florida

50% certified free/reduced

Across 3,631 public schools serving 2,795,582 students, 50.4% of Florida students are certified free or reduced-price. 2,425 schools (73% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 43.9% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

2.8M

Students enrolled

3,631

Public schools (CCD)

2,425

CEP / Provision 2 schools

Counties in atlas

Florida 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 Hover a county for details

Florida at a glance

Free/reduced

50.4%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

73%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

43.9%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

92%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

15.3%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.65

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 Florida.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

1 Hamilton 85.8%
2 Gadsden 85.6%
3 Dixie 79.0%
4 Taylor 78.9%
5 Highlands 77.8%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

1 Baker 100%
2 Bradford 100%
3 Calhoun 100%
4 Citrus 100%
5 DeSoto 100%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

1 Miami-Dade 331K
2 Broward 246K
3 Hillsborough 223K
4 Orange 211K
5 Palm Beach 187K

Every county in Florida

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
Alachua	55	29,062	51.2%	52%	45.0%	17.1%	0.57
Baker	9	4,262	52.9%	100%	49.0%	18.9%	0.68
Bay	41	26,839	48.1%	64%	43.1%	15.0%	0.61
Bradford	9	2,874	63.7%	100%	63.7%	20.6%	0.75
Brevard	98	73,072	46.2%	51%	39.4%	14.4%	0.58
Broward	299	245,625	46.3%	62%	41.4%	14.8%	0.61
Calhoun	6	2,051	59.0%	100%	59.0%	24.9%	0.73
Charlotte	22	16,420	55.7%	95%	53.2%	12.6%	0.74
Citrus	21	15,583	56.5%	100%	56.5%	19.9%	0.76
Clay	46	37,824	50.3%	42%	39.3%	9.9%	0.56
Collier	60	45,803	47.3%	93%	46.3%	16.8%	0.69
Columbia	17	9,712	64.5%	93%	63.2%	20.6%	0.77
DeSoto	8	4,206	69.5%	100%	64.4%	27.0%	0.77
Dixie	8	2,071	79.0%	100%	76.9%	31.7%	0.82
Duval	187	127,873	50.6%	90%	47.0%	17.8%	0.71
Escambia	56	36,090	58.1%	76%	53.2%	20.8%	0.70
Flagler	13	13,503	46.6%	100%	46.6%	13.7%	0.69
Franklin	5	1,193	71.3%	100%	68.6%	25.7%	0.74
Gadsden	14	4,609	85.6%	100%	80.6%	29.2%	0.90
Gilchrist	7	2,904	57.9%	100%	54.1%	19.0%	0.70
Glades	9	1,792	30.9%	100%	30.0%	22.1%	0.52
Gulf	6	1,896	50.4%	100%	46.0%	21.5%	0.69
Hamilton	5	1,609	85.8%	100%	84.3%	32.8%	0.81
Hardee	10	4,681	66.0%	100%	60.6%	23.6%	0.77
Hendry	14	13,343	62.3%	100%	56.2%	26.0%	0.77
Hernando	28	23,796	60.6%	100%	55.8%	14.6%	0.78
Highlands	20	12,071	77.8%	100%	75.3%	27.1%	0.86
Hillsborough	271	222,726	49.2%	80%	43.3%	14.3%	0.67
Holmes	9	3,123	58.8%	100%	55.1%	27.2%	0.73
Indian River	25	16,791	54.3%	5%	38.6%	14.7%	0.45
Jackson	14	5,873	57.5%	100%	53.9%	25.7%	0.73
Jefferson	5	663	61.2%	100%	57.3%	25.5%	0.65
Lafayette	5	1,133	70.5%	100%	70.5%	23.4%	0.73
Lake	50	45,809	39.9%	87%	34.7%	12.8%	0.65
Lee	98	95,970	52.8%	90%	51.4%	16.2%	0.72
Leon	50	33,646	44.0%	79%	38.7%	17.9%	0.63
Levy	14	5,618	70.1%	100%	65.6%	23.6%	0.81
Liberty	7	1,235	31.8%	100%	31.8%	26.6%	0.57
Madison	11	2,287	59.0%	83%	59.0%	27.8%	0.65
Manatee	65	50,163	53.3%	40%	29.3%	12.7%	0.58
Marion	53	44,344	60.4%	98%	56.2%	22.5%	0.79
Martin	27	17,922	46.2%	25%	36.6%	15.6%	0.48
Miami-Dade	479	330,973	54.3%	74%	46.8%	16.5%	0.69
Monroe	19	8,833	47.1%	0%	29.4%	14.6%	0.40
Nassau	19	12,656	43.4%	0%	32.5%	11.5%	0.39
Okaloosa	41	31,909	45.4%	0%	32.3%	12.4%	0.40
Okeechobee	10	6,095	61.7%	100%	59.1%	24.2%	0.77
Orange	238	211,027	43.7%	94%	38.9%	14.8%	0.69
Osceola	71	70,036	55.1%	51%	42.9%	14.2%	0.62
Palm Beach	203	186,590	48.8%	99%	45.0%	13.3%	0.74
Pasco	94	83,616	43.3%	98%	39.6%	11.7%	0.70
Pinellas	132	87,718	49.8%	82%	44.4%	15.2%	0.69
Polk	139	111,652	63.2%	91%	61.6%	18.2%	0.77
Putnam	18	9,887	71.1%	100%	66.3%	27.8%	0.81
Santa Rosa	34	28,168	45.6%	0%	31.2%	8.1%	0.41
Sarasota	53	44,581	48.1%	0%	33.2%	12.5%	0.43
Seminole	67	64,774	49.2%	0%	34.2%	9.9%	0.43
St. Johns	45	50,831	18.0%	32%	14.8%	5.5%	0.32
St. Lucie	45	47,376	58.7%	0%	28.2%	11.4%	0.48
Sumter	10	9,121	45.1%	88%	40.5%	21.4%	0.65
Suwannee	10	5,893	66.8%	100%	63.9%	24.1%	0.77
Taylor	7	2,720	78.9%	100%	74.4%	24.4%	0.87
Union	6	2,370	52.9%	100%	49.0%	18.4%	0.66
Volusia	75	61,275	59.4%	100%	55.7%	18.2%	0.79
Wakulla	13	5,070	38.7%	67%	19.9%	13.6%	0.53
Walton	18	11,193	49.0%	0%	37.8%	13.4%	0.40
Washington	8	3,151	56.5%	100%	51.3%	24.4%	0.73

Florida 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 1,410,078 children who rely on school meals in Florida.

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

Florida child poverty

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

Florida child poverty atlas

Florida pantries

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

Florida 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