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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Maine

38% certified free/reduced

Across 558 public schools serving 165,865 students, 38.5% of Maine students are certified free or reduced-price. 75 schools (32% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 20.9% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

166K

Students enrolled

558

Public schools (CCD)

75

CEP / Provision 2 schools

16

Counties in atlas

Maine 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

Maine at a glance

Free/reduced

38.5%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

32%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

20.9%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

41%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

12.0%

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 16 in Maine.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Somerset 59.7%
  2. 2 Piscataquis 57.0%
  3. 3 Oxford 54.9%
  4. 4 Franklin 53.8%
  5. 5 Washington 51.8%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Piscataquis 100%
  2. 2 Aroostook 79%
  3. 3 Androscoggin 74%
  4. 4 Somerset 57%
  5. 5 Cumberland 53%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Cumberland 38K
  2. 2 York 24K
  3. 3 Penobscot 19K
  4. 4 Kennebec 16K
  5. 5 Androscoggin 15K

Every county in Maine

All 16 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
Androscoggin 35 15,363 46.9% 74% 28.4% 14.5% 0.56
Aroostook 37 8,684 49.7% 79% 28.7% 15.1% 0.56
Cumberland 90 37,764 26.5% 53% 14.3% 7.3% 0.37
Franklin 16 4,199 53.8% — 24.5% 15.2% 0.27
Hancock 34 5,998 32.7% 0% 18.1% 12.3% 0.31
Kennebec 51 15,643 39.0% 0% 22.2% 14.6% 0.27
Knox 20 4,222 34.1% 0% 18.6% 12.5% 0.22
Lincoln 18 3,544 39.4% 0% 22.0% 12.8% 0.25
Oxford 29 8,021 54.9% 29% 29.9% 19.2% 0.46
Penobscot 63 18,799 41.7% 32% 23.2% 11.8% 0.42
Piscataquis 8 1,937 57.0% 100% 32.6% 19.8% 0.66
Sagadahoc 14 4,168 28.5% — 14.6% 10.2% 0.14
Somerset 27 5,658 59.7% 57% 29.7% 16.6% 0.63
Waldo 25 3,927 49.8% 0% 26.1% 18.0% 0.35
Washington 32 3,553 51.8% 8% 30.5% 19.3% 0.36
York 59 24,385 30.3% 0% 14.2% 8.7% 0.18

Maine 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 63,788 children who rely on school meals in Maine.

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

Maine child poverty

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

Maine child poverty atlas

Maine pantries

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

Maine 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