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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Michigan

53% certified free/reduced

Across 2,909 public schools serving 1,327,856 students, 53.0% of Michigan students are certified free or reduced-price. 1,817 schools (62% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 0.0% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

1.3M

Students enrolled

2,909

Public schools (CCD)

1,817

CEP / Provision 2 schools

83

Counties in atlas

Michigan 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

Michigan at a glance

Free/reduced

53.0%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

62%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

0.0%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

100%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

16.8%

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 83 in Michigan.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Lake 97.9%
  2. 2 Oceana 76.0%
  3. 3 Roscommon 74.7%
  4. 4 Oscoda 71.9%
  5. 5 Montmorency 69.9%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Alpena 100%
  2. 2 Arenac 100%
  3. 3 Benzie 100%
  4. 4 Cheboygan 100%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Wayne 249K
  2. 2 Oakland 165K
  3. 3 Macomb 113K
  4. 4 Kent 94K
  5. 5 Genesee 57K

Every county in Michigan

All 83 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
Alcona 2 683 69.4% 100% 0.0% 25.4% 0.85
Alger 5 938 53.5% 40% 0.0% 15.6% 0.59
Allegan 50 17,015 45.7% 44% 0.0% 11.0% 0.56
Alpena 8 3,555 64.4% 100% 0.0% 18.5% 0.82
Antrim 12 2,740 56.9% 50% 0.0% 15.3% 0.63
Arenac 6 1,892 61.9% 100% 0.0% 21.6% 0.81
Baraga 3 822 65.6% 67% 0.0% 17.9% 0.73
Barry 18 7,968 47.1% 72% 0.0% 9.9% 0.65
Bay 27 12,022 56.2% 81% 0.0% 15.3% 0.73
Benzie 7 1,523 57.5% 100% 0.0% 13.6% 0.79
Berrien 59 20,233 56.7% 73% 0.0% 16.6% 0.70
Branch 15 6,211 60.6% 80% 0.0% 19.9% 0.74
Calhoun 45 17,436 61.9% 87% 0.0% 13.8% 0.77
Cass 17 6,146 57.0% 41% 0.0% 16.1% 0.61
Charlevoix 10 3,219 50.8% 20% 0.0% 12.1% 0.51
Cheboygan 8 2,283 67.9% 100% 0.0% 21.5% 0.84
Chippewa 14 4,339 55.7% 71% 0.0% 15.8% 0.69
Clare 9 3,716 66.9% 100% 0.0% 28.1% 0.83
Clinton 23 9,545 31.9% 61% 0.0% 7.0% 0.54
Crawford 5 1,656 63.2% 80% 0.0% 20.4% 0.76
Delta 11 4,201 50.3% 64% 0.0% 15.1% 0.64
Dickinson 11 3,499 45.9% 45% 0.0% 13.1% 0.57
Eaton 38 15,625 47.5% 68% 0.0% 11.0% 0.64
Emmet 15 4,090 43.5% 0% 0.0% 10.3% 0.42
Genesee 125 56,503 62.6% 79% 0.0% 24.1% 0.75
Gladwin 6 2,518 59.1% 100% 0.0% 22.1% 0.80
Gogebic 5 1,477 63.4% 100% 0.0% 24.5% 0.82
Grand Traverse 25 11,691 36.8% 16% 0.0% 8.4% 0.43
Gratiot 20 5,056 61.9% 100% 0.0% 18.0% 0.81
Hillsdale 18 5,084 60.8% 89% 0.0% 17.3% 0.77
Houghton 16 5,198 48.8% 63% 0.0% 12.2% 0.63
Huron 22 4,264 52.2% 64% 0.0% 16.6% 0.65
Ingham 76 37,140 52.3% 62% 0.0% 15.0% 0.65
Ionia 22 7,816 49.1% 23% 0.0% 13.4% 0.51
Iosco 8 3,346 68.8% 63% 0.0% 25.7% 0.73
Iron 3 1,290 62.3% 100% 0.0% 22.6% 0.81
Isabella 16 6,375 49.1% 100% 0.0% 14.5% 0.75
Jackson 48 20,775 56.9% 77% 0.0% 18.5% 0.72
Kalamazoo 69 32,479 45.9% 23% 0.0% 13.3% 0.50
Kalkaska 7 1,763 61.2% 86% 0.0% 18.8% 0.76
Kent 195 94,366 50.7% 51% 0.0% 13.2% 0.61
Keweenaw 1 3 0.0% 0% 0.0% 15.2% 0.20
Lake 3 421 97.9% 100% 0.0% 31.3% 0.99
Lapeer 21 10,790 48.6% 76% 0.0% 11.3% 0.67
Leelanau 7 1,893 46.4% 43% 0.0% 10.2% 0.56
Lenawee 38 13,760 51.9% 55% 0.0% 12.7% 0.63
Livingston 40 23,949 23.8% 10% 0.0% 5.6% 0.35
Luce 1 468 66.0% 100% 0.0% 26.0% 0.83
Mackinac 8 1,128 59.8% 50% 0.0% 19.6% 0.65
Macomb 204 112,929 55.6% 87% 0.0% 13.5% 0.74
Manistee 11 5,975 69.8% 91% 0.0% 19.3% 0.82
Marquette 22 7,641 39.3% 55% 0.0% 12.3% 0.56
Mason 10 3,615 55.9% 90% 0.0% 19.3% 0.75
Mecosta 13 4,724 59.7% 85% 0.0% 22.9% 0.75
Menominee 13 3,659 60.4% 92% 0.0% 18.5% 0.78
Midland 21 10,985 39.9% 57% 0.0% 13.7% 0.57
Missaukee 6 2,239 65.3% 100% 0.0% 15.6% 0.83
Monroe 45 19,921 45.2% 51% 0.0% 12.7% 0.58
Montcalm 23 9,285 65.3% 70% 0.0% 17.7% 0.74
Montmorency 4 814 69.9% 100% 0.0% 24.5% 0.85
Muskegon 56 24,616 62.0% 79% 0.0% 15.8% 0.75
Newaygo 18 6,704 66.5% 44% 0.0% 16.5% 0.67
Oakland 287 165,174 35.4% 33% 0.0% 8.9% 0.48
Oceana 10 2,734 76.0% 100% 0.0% 19.2% 0.88
Ogemaw 4 1,839 67.2% 0% 0.0% 23.3% 0.54
Ontonagon 2 415 61.7% 100% 0.0% 22.7% 0.81
Osceola 12 3,627 67.8% 100% 0.0% 21.5% 0.84
Oscoda 3 789 71.9% 67% 0.0% 26.7% 0.76
Otsego 8 3,426 56.6% 88% 0.0% 13.2% 0.75
Ottawa 85 41,939 36.5% 24% 0.0% 7.2% 0.45
Presque Isle 7 1,206 62.3% 100% 0.0% 17.5% 0.81
Roscommon 6 2,619 74.7% 67% 0.0% 25.5% 0.77
Saginaw 60 24,274 62.1% 60% 0.0% 21.8% 0.69
Sanilac 16 5,353 61.4% 88% 0.0% 18.5% 0.77
Schoolcraft 2 686 56.9% 50% 0.0% 19.2% 0.63
Shiawassee 26 10,008 51.0% 85% 0.0% 15.5% 0.71
St. Clair 46 20,551 50.7% 76% 0.0% 13.2% 0.68
St. Joseph 30 9,716 58.3% 80% 0.0% 13.8% 0.73
Tuscola 20 6,425 61.4% 100% 0.0% 19.6% 0.81
Van Buren 37 14,444 57.5% 49% 0.0% 16.6% 0.63
Washtenaw 85 41,772 34.4% 32% 0.0% 12.7% 0.47
Wayne 487 249,167 68.1% 76% 0.0% 29.4% 0.77
Wexford 12 7,675 69.1% 75% 0.0% 17.8% 0.77

Michigan 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 703,653 children who rely on school meals in Michigan.

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

Michigan child poverty

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

Michigan child poverty atlas

Michigan pantries

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

Michigan 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