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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Maryland

49% certified free/reduced

Across 1,305 public schools serving 869,379 students, 49.3% of Maryland students are certified free or reduced-price. 594 schools (46% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 37.0% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

869K

Students enrolled

1,305

Public schools (CCD)

594

CEP / Provision 2 schools

24

Counties in atlas

Maryland 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

Maryland at a glance

Free/reduced

49.3%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

46%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

37.0%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

100%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

10.2%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.58

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 24 in Maryland.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Dorchester 100.0%
  2. 2 Kent 75.7%
  3. 3 Somerset 74.7%
  4. 4 Baltimore 72.4%
  5. 5 Prince George's 72.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Baltimore 100%
  2. 2 Baltimore 100%
  3. 3 Caroline 100%
  4. 4 Dorchester 100%
  5. 5 Kent 100%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Montgomery 159K
  2. 2 Prince George's 128K
  3. 3 Baltimore 106K
  4. 4 Anne Arundel 83K
  5. 5 Baltimore 68K

Every county in Maryland

All 24 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
Allegany 21 7,876 60.5% 24% 55.6% 20.5% 0.57
Anne Arundel 116 82,965 41.8% 0% 29.1% 6.3% 0.41
Baltimore 138 68,350 72.4% 100% 72.2% 25.6% 0.86
Baltimore 158 106,420 52.3% 100% 29.8% 9.3% 0.76
Calvert 22 15,136 31.6% 0% 25.3% 5.9% 0.36
Caroline 9 5,676 59.7% 100% 59.0% 15.7% 0.80
Carroll 37 25,922 27.1% 0% 22.6% 5.4% 0.34
Cecil 28 14,997 51.7% 46% 45.3% 11.7% 0.60
Charles 37 27,594 48.9% 32% 32.2% 8.0% 0.54
Dorchester 11 4,608 100.0% 100% 62.5% 22.2% 1.00
Frederick 65 47,552 32.3% 0% 26.0% 6.2% 0.36
Garrett 12 3,455 57.3% 0% 45.9% 14.2% 0.49
Harford 52 36,896 39.7% 25% 29.9% 6.9% 0.47
Howard 74 56,591 26.8% 9% 21.0% 5.8% 0.36
Kent 5 1,732 75.7% 100% 58.0% 18.5% 0.88
Montgomery 201 159,278 39.0% 26% 31.8% 6.5% 0.47
Prince George's 188 127,901 72.0% 64% 44.7% 12.2% 0.75
Queen Anne's 14 7,502 38.5% 0% 26.5% 7.4% 0.39
Somerset 7 2,894 74.7% 100% 74.2% 26.7% 0.87
St. Mary's 26 17,223 39.4% 12% 30.7% 9.7% 0.43
Talbot 8 4,502 60.5% 0% 47.0% 13.5% 0.50
Washington 40 22,461 62.2% 23% 48.7% 12.7% 0.58
Wicomico 24 15,050 58.1% 100% 57.6% 18.8% 0.79
Worcester 12 6,798 37.5% 67% 46.5% 13.9% 0.59

Maryland 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 428,228 children who rely on school meals in Maryland.

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

Maryland child poverty

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

Maryland child poverty atlas

Maryland pantries

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

Maryland 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