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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Minnesota

42% certified free/reduced

Across 1,870 public schools serving 833,684 students, 41.7% of Minnesota students are certified free or reduced-price. 347 schools (21% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 31.1% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

834K

Students enrolled

1,870

Public schools (CCD)

347

CEP / Provision 2 schools

87

Counties in atlas

Minnesota 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

Minnesota at a glance

Free/reduced

41.7%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

21%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

31.1%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

87%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

9.7%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.45

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 87 in Minnesota.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Mahnomen 76.4%
  2. 2 Nobles 68.6%
  3. 3 Cass 63.4%
  4. 4 Todd 58.9%
  5. 5 Ramsey 58.9%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Mahnomen 100%
  2. 2 Ramsey 64%
  3. 3 Freeborn 60%
  4. 4 Cass 54%
  5. 5 Hennepin 48%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Hennepin 168K
  2. 2 Ramsey 83K
  3. 3 Dakota 70K
  4. 4 Anoka 55K
  5. 5 Washington 44K

Every county in Minnesota

All 87 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
Aitkin 7 1,649 54.0% 0% 44.5% 14.6% 0.47
Anoka 88 55,306 42.8% 18% 31.8% 7.1% 0.43
Becker 12 4,538 46.7% 18% 36.6% 13.1% 0.47
Beltrami 26 7,830 55.3% 32% 46.2% 17.9% 0.56
Benton 10 6,504 37.5% 11% 29.0% 13.6% 0.40
Big Stone 8 825 39.1% 33% 27.3% 14.4% 0.45
Blue Earth 19 8,588 40.1% 6% 32.8% 9.1% 0.41
Brown 10 3,435 39.8% 0% 28.6% 7.3% 0.40
Carlton 16 5,904 37.6% 0% 30.1% 7.8% 0.39
Carver 32 17,014 18.0% 0% 14.0% 3.4% 0.25
Cass 13 4,200 63.4% 54% 53.8% 20.0% 0.68
Chippewa 8 2,154 54.6% 0% 36.4% 19.2% 0.42
Chisago 19 7,669 31.3% 0% 24.2% 5.6% 0.30
Clay 19 10,792 39.9% 0% 33.0% 12.3% 0.37
Clearwater 4 1,400 57.2% 0% 43.4% 16.6% 0.49
Cook 6 647 44.2% 20% 37.4% 14.8% 0.45
Cottonwood 8 1,838 54.4% 17% 38.9% 13.2% 0.47
Crow Wing 18 9,008 42.2% 20% 32.9% 10.4% 0.44
Dakota 110 70,303 35.1% 12% 26.0% 6.2% 0.38
Dodge 8 3,697 29.7% 0% 22.4% 7.7% 0.35
Douglas 17 5,706 34.5% 0% 24.3% 8.2% 0.35
Faribault 5 1,862 47.7% 0% 39.0% 11.3% 0.44
Fillmore 12 2,887 33.8% 0% 25.0% 11.7% 0.37
Freeborn 10 3,821 56.7% 60% 44.1% 11.2% 0.66
Goodhue 19 6,707 29.3% 0% 24.0% 6.5% 0.33
Grant 7 1,048 42.3% 0% 32.3% 11.6% 0.41
Hennepin 325 167,525 43.4% 48% 30.5% 11.6% 0.54
Houston 15 4,150 43.3% 0% 33.9% 6.4% 0.35
Hubbard 11 2,577 53.4% 0% 42.9% 13.8% 0.39
Isanti 14 5,915 37.2% 0% 28.0% 7.4% 0.34
Itasca 17 6,306 51.4% 6% 39.9% 15.0% 0.46
Jackson 6 1,394 43.3% 0% 38.2% 9.5% 0.42
Kanabec 4 2,078 44.7% 0% 32.9% 12.4% 0.42
Kandiyohi 10 5,923 57.0% 0% 43.9% 14.3% 0.46
Kittson 6 619 43.9% 0% 33.1% 11.7% 0.42
Koochiching 6 1,439 47.8% 0% 38.7% 14.6% 0.44
Lac qui Parle 5 1,177 46.6% 0% 35.3% 10.9% 0.43
Lake 4 1,300 37.5% 0% 28.8% 9.8% 0.39
Lake of the Woods 3 462 43.5% 0% 35.9% 15.3% 0.35
Le Sueur 10 3,654 37.1% 0% 24.3% 6.5% 0.39
Lincoln 8 1,049 36.8% 0% 24.1% 8.5% 0.33
Lyon 13 4,712 48.4% 0% 36.3% 10.5% 0.43
Mahnomen 5 1,193 76.4% 100% 67.6% 24.6% 0.88
Marshall 9 1,440 36.3% 0% 27.7% 9.1% 0.38
Martin 11 2,992 52.1% 0% 38.2% 14.9% 0.44
McLeod 14 5,070 40.5% 7% 30.9% 8.5% 0.42
Meeker 8 2,843 41.5% 0% 31.1% 7.6% 0.38
Mille Lacs 14 5,617 45.1% 27% 33.0% 11.3% 0.46
Morrison 15 5,121 41.0% 0% 30.1% 10.2% 0.39
Mower 21 6,397 58.1% 0% 44.1% 16.6% 0.47
Murray 4 1,065 43.2% 0% 29.5% 10.6% 0.42
Nicollet 11 4,368 36.3% 0% 27.2% 7.5% 0.36
Nobles 11 4,387 68.6% 0% 41.1% 12.6% 0.54
Norman 4 900 48.6% 0% 35.9% 12.8% 0.44
Olmsted 47 23,415 36.0% 10% 28.3% 8.2% 0.38
Otter Tail 23 8,005 43.5% 0% 32.4% 11.1% 0.39
Pennington 5 2,046 41.1% 0% 28.9% 9.8% 0.41
Pine 14 3,631 50.2% 0% 39.9% 12.8% 0.38
Pipestone 6 1,517 47.7% 0% 32.7% 11.7% 0.41
Polk 17 5,040 47.2% 12% 38.4% 11.5% 0.47
Pope 5 1,370 33.0% 0% 26.2% 8.6% 0.28
Ramsey 190 83,006 58.9% 64% 45.2% 13.9% 0.65
Red Lake 5 731 37.9% 0% 30.0% 10.9% 0.35
Redwood 10 2,512 45.5% 10% 33.6% 13.6% 0.46
Renville 8 1,796 53.0% 0% 39.8% 12.9% 0.47
Rice 25 7,675 47.2% 24% 35.5% 10.4% 0.44
Rock 5 1,505 32.6% 0% 21.7% 9.2% 0.36
Roseau 8 2,575 36.2% 0% 28.2% 9.9% 0.38
Scott 39 25,659 30.6% 12% 22.1% 5.4% 0.36
Sherburne 32 15,619 31.2% 8% 23.4% 5.9% 0.34
Sibley 10 2,046 45.6% 0% 30.6% 9.3% 0.35
St. Louis 60 22,419 41.1% 7% 32.4% 11.8% 0.42
Stearns 45 23,112 44.7% 31% 35.5% 11.9% 0.50
Steele 15 6,812 43.6% 0% 33.4% 8.8% 0.36
Stevens 6 1,670 31.9% 0% 21.9% 7.3% 0.36
Swift 5 1,759 46.7% 0% 38.8% 12.2% 0.43
Todd 9 2,922 58.9% 0% 36.9% 13.0% 0.49
Traverse 4 565 49.6% 0% 31.1% 17.6% 0.45
Wabasha 9 3,481 34.7% 0% 25.1% 7.4% 0.37
Wadena 9 3,048 55.7% 0% 41.5% 15.1% 0.48
Waseca 8 2,819 42.6% 0% 33.6% 9.7% 0.41
Washington 72 44,174 27.1% 5% 19.3% 4.8% 0.32
Watonwan 7 1,983 58.4% 0% 36.5% 11.9% 0.49
Wilkin 7 1,017 40.7% 0% 31.2% 10.1% 0.40
Winona 14 4,327 41.4% 29% 32.0% 10.5% 0.49
Wright 50 27,165 25.2% 0% 18.3% 4.2% 0.30
Yellow Medicine 6 1,258 47.7% 0% 34.7% 10.3% 0.41

Minnesota 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 347,850 children who rely on school meals in Minnesota.

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

Minnesota child poverty

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

Minnesota child poverty atlas

Minnesota pantries

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

Minnesota 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