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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Idaho

33% certified free/reduced

Across 686 public schools serving 305,384 students, 32.9% of Idaho students are certified free or reduced-price. 55 schools (9% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 12.4% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

305K

Students enrolled

686

Public schools (CCD)

55

CEP / Provision 2 schools

44

Counties in atlas

Idaho 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

Idaho at a glance

Free/reduced

32.9%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

9%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

12.4%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

89%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

10.3%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.37

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 44 in Idaho.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Clark 71.6%
  2. 2 Lincoln 59.9%
  3. 3 Power 58.3%
  4. 4 Jerome 56.0%
  5. 5 Benewah 56.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Shoshone 50%
  2. 2 Benewah 43%
  3. 3 Lewis 40%
  4. 4 Payette 36%
  5. 5 Twin Falls 28%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Ada 76K
  2. 2 Canyon 40K
  3. 3 Bonneville 26K
  4. 4 Kootenai 21K
  5. 5 Twin Falls 16K

Every county in Idaho

All 44 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
Ada 129 76,337 23.7% 11% 5.5% 6.4% 0.32
Adams 3 430 38.6% 0% 17.2% 18.2% 0.39
Bannock 30 14,223 34.1% 4% 16.7% 11.1% 0.36
Bear Lake 6 1,417 33.6% 0% 8.1% 11.2% 0.33
Benewah 7 1,268 56.0% 43% 24.6% 15.5% 0.61
Bingham 31 11,345 33.7% 13% 15.4% 12.1% 0.36
Blaine 8 3,294 26.2% 0% 9.6% 6.8% 0.31
Boise 6 821 37.6% 0% 11.3% 15.4% 0.35
Bonner 17 4,821 30.3% 0% 13.2% 13.4% 0.33
Bonneville 50 26,393 33.8% 0% 14.6% 11.2% 0.35
Boundary 5 1,362 42.6% 0% 21.3% 16.4% 0.41
Butte 3 390 41.5% 0% 17.9% 20.0% 0.34
Camas 2 168 28.6% 0% 11.3% 8.6% 0.34
Canyon 70 40,412 46.6% 22% 20.3% 10.9% 0.49
Caribou 8 1,509 32.5% 0% 9.4% 11.0% 0.36
Cassia 15 5,409 42.7% 0% 20.0% 12.3% 0.40
Clark 2 109 71.6% — 13.8% 26.0% 0.36
Clearwater 5 935 42.8% 0% 19.6% 18.1% 0.37
Custer 5 551 38.7% 0% 11.1% 16.9% 0.35
Elmore 14 4,333 43.4% 0% 14.3% 14.3% 0.36
Franklin 7 3,158 37.0% 0% 8.1% 8.9% 0.38
Fremont 8 2,236 48.1% 0% 18.6% 14.8% 0.42
Gem 7 2,451 42.0% 0% 20.9% 12.2% 0.41
Gooding 10 2,962 55.4% 0% 9.7% 15.9% 0.46
Idaho 9 1,718 35.2% 0% 14.8% 15.6% 0.38
Jefferson 15 7,498 35.0% 0% 9.8% 8.1% 0.36
Jerome 7 4,651 56.0% 14% 4.2% 13.2% 0.52
Kootenai 44 21,465 25.3% 0% 10.1% 9.8% 0.30
Latah 17 4,081 23.6% 0% 11.1% 8.2% 0.32
Lemhi 6 933 35.6% 0% 16.0% 15.0% 0.28
Lewis 5 727 52.7% 40% 21.5% 15.5% 0.58
Lincoln 5 872 59.9% 20% 21.3% 14.9% 0.56
Madison 15 7,809 30.2% 0% 2.6% 12.0% 0.32
Minidoka 7 4,151 30.2% 0% 19.1% 12.5% 0.35
Nez Perce 14 5,121 27.6% 8% 14.3% 11.1% 0.33
Oneida 5 8,704 4.0% 0% 1.0% 12.2% 0.18
Owyhee 11 2,368 52.5% 0% 26.3% 14.9% 0.43
Payette 11 4,416 45.6% 36% 23.4% 13.6% 0.54
Power 6 1,692 58.3% 0% 23.4% 14.5% 0.46
Shoshone 7 1,592 40.2% 50% 26.5% 18.0% 0.52
Teton 6 1,888 26.3% 0% 5.5% 8.7% 0.33
Twin Falls 34 15,933 34.5% 28% 19.0% 11.3% 0.45
Valley 7 1,631 17.8% 0% 2.3% 9.3% 0.26
Washington 7 1,800 42.9% 0% 17.5% 15.3% 0.41

Idaho 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 100,383 children who rely on school meals in Idaho.

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

Idaho child poverty

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

Idaho child poverty atlas

Idaho pantries

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

Idaho 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