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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Mississippi

74% certified free/reduced

Across 856 public schools serving 433,170 students, 73.7% of Mississippi students are certified free or reduced-price. 411 schools (99% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 31.3% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

433K

Students enrolled

856

Public schools (CCD)

411

CEP / Provision 2 schools

81

Counties in atlas

Mississippi 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

Mississippi at a glance

Free/reduced

73.7%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

99%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

31.3%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

48%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

23.5%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.76

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 81 in Mississippi.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Adams 100.0%
  2. 2 Amite 100.0%
  3. 3 Benton 100.0%
  4. 4 Bolivar 100.0%
  5. 5 Carroll 100.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Adams 100%
  2. 2 Amite 100%
  3. 3 Attala 100%
  4. 4 Benton 100%
  5. 5 Bolivar 100%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 DeSoto 35K
  2. 2 Harrison 31K
  3. 3 Hinds 30K
  4. 4 Jackson 23K
  5. 5 Rankin 23K

Every county in Mississippi

All 81 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
Adams 6 2,710 100.0% 100% 44.5% 33.3% 1.00
Alcorn 11 5,650 65.8% — 23.4% 21.1% 0.33
Amite 3 871 100.0% 100% 45.4% 28.4% 1.00
Attala 9 2,962 88.3% 100% 35.6% 26.2% 0.83
Benton 3 933 100.0% 100% 35.4% 30.3% 1.00
Bolivar 13 4,107 100.0% 100% 48.9% 41.8% 1.00
Calhoun 4 1,425 72.2% — 30.5% 25.0% 0.36
Carroll 2 768 100.0% 100% 45.4% 22.9% 1.00
Chickasaw 8 2,715 81.0% 100% 34.6% 24.2% 0.78
Choctaw 4 1,254 70.4% — 23.3% 26.1% 0.35
Claiborne 3 1,156 100.0% 100% 56.9% 42.3% 1.00
Clarke 7 2,489 80.7% 100% 31.6% 27.0% 0.82
Clay 6 2,549 100.0% 100% 44.6% 29.9% 1.00
Coahoma 12 3,570 100.0% 100% 56.8% 40.7% 1.00
Copiah 7 3,427 100.0% 100% 43.3% 30.2% 1.00
Covington 7 2,547 100.0% 100% 38.0% 30.4% 1.00
DeSoto 39 34,819 48.3% — 17.5% 12.2% 0.24
Forrest 20 10,838 77.4% 100% 34.4% 22.0% 0.77
Franklin 4 1,224 80.9% — 34.6% 24.5% 0.40
George 8 4,105 100.0% 100% 22.3% 17.4% 1.00
Greene 5 1,655 100.0% 100% 25.1% 23.5% 1.00
Grenada 3 3,851 72.6% — 31.5% 28.6% 0.36
Hancock 10 5,689 66.9% 100% 26.1% 20.3% 0.71
Harrison 48 30,863 69.7% — 34.7% 17.2% 0.35
Hinds 67 30,251 86.1% 98% 44.6% 28.0% 0.89
Holmes 7 2,386 100.0% 100% 58.4% 44.7% 1.00
Humphreys 3 1,133 100.0% 100% 63.7% 45.9% 1.00
Itawamba 6 3,285 68.4% — 19.8% 16.3% 0.34
Jackson 40 22,849 68.3% 100% 22.3% 17.1% 0.75
Jasper 7 2,125 89.9% 100% 36.9% 28.0% 0.84
Jefferson 2 737 100.0% 100% 50.3% 39.4% 1.00
Jefferson Davis 4 1,255 100.0% 100% 41.0% 39.3% 1.00
Jones 14 10,723 74.2% 100% 28.8% 23.8% 0.74
Kemper 4 895 100.0% 100% 52.5% 36.1% 1.00
Lafayette 11 7,667 47.1% — 17.4% 14.1% 0.24
Lamar 15 10,498 52.9% — 17.8% 14.8% 0.26
Lauderdale 18 9,767 69.6% 100% 38.4% 31.8% 0.73
Lawrence 5 1,693 82.8% — 31.4% 25.0% 0.41
Leake 5 2,463 100.0% 100% 32.4% 31.6% 1.00
Lee 29 14,612 61.3% — 27.5% 18.4% 0.31
Leflore 13 4,076 100.0% 100% 60.3% 37.2% 1.00
Lincoln 10 5,445 68.7% 0% 31.6% 24.6% 0.36
Lowndes 16 8,666 73.1% 90% 35.4% 25.5% 0.76
Madison 29 16,203 50.1% 100% 20.1% 12.6% 0.61
Marion 9 3,520 100.0% 100% 32.3% 25.4% 1.00
Marshall 12 3,705 100.0% 100% 33.6% 31.7% 1.00
Monroe 10 4,546 64.1% 100% 24.6% 23.3% 0.68
Montgomery 2 1,081 100.0% 100% 44.4% 33.6% 1.00
Neshoba 5 3,858 72.0% 100% 33.0% 29.1% 0.78
Newton 8 3,362 81.2% 100% 25.4% 24.6% 0.86
Noxubee 3 1,353 100.0% 100% 55.9% 37.7% 1.00
Oktibbeha 7 4,882 67.9% — 34.0% 23.4% 0.34
Panola 10 5,410 84.1% 100% 46.6% 36.4% 0.80
Pearl River 16 8,784 76.5% 100% 28.9% 22.3% 0.80
Perry 6 1,475 66.0% — 30.2% 24.9% 0.33
Pike 15 5,856 100.0% 100% 43.9% 34.2% 1.00
Pontotoc 12 5,837 68.8% — 21.8% 18.5% 0.34
Prentiss 10 4,100 67.9% — 21.1% 24.1% 0.34
Quitman 3 820 100.0% 100% 44.3% 46.7% 1.00
Rankin 32 22,675 48.4% — 14.9% 11.0% 0.24
Scott 11 5,645 100.0% 100% 22.1% 26.4% 1.00
Sharkey 3 535 100.0% 100% 66.7% 52.3% 1.00
Simpson 7 2,905 88.2% — 34.3% 27.4% 0.44
Smith 4 2,521 71.9% — 23.0% 24.8% 0.36
Stone 4 2,530 61.7% — 31.2% 21.1% 0.31
Sunflower 11 2,863 100.0% 100% 56.2% 41.1% 1.00
Tallahatchie 5 1,335 100.0% 100% 44.3% 39.9% 1.00
Tate 8 3,793 71.9% — 31.6% 19.4% 0.36
Tippah 8 3,773 74.8% — 21.3% 26.9% 0.37
Tishomingo 6 2,900 64.3% — 16.5% 17.3% 0.32
Tunica 5 1,621 100.0% 100% 62.0% 39.7% 1.00
Union 7 5,172 57.0% — 19.5% 18.5% 0.28
Walthall 5 1,722 100.0% 100% 33.0% 30.7% 1.00
Warren 14 6,844 100.0% 100% 43.5% 30.1% 1.00
Washington 21 6,303 100.0% 100% 59.9% 50.2% 1.00
Wayne 6 2,977 100.0% 100% 44.3% 29.6% 1.00
Webster 4 1,750 55.4% — 23.5% 21.8% 0.28
Wilkinson 3 806 100.0% 100% 44.4% 37.2% 1.00
Winston 6 2,490 100.0% 100% 39.0% 44.2% 1.00
Yalobusha 4 1,398 79.3% 100% 37.0% 27.5% 0.80
Yazoo 7 3,117 100.0% 100% 55.6% 33.1% 1.00

Mississippi 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 319,075 children who rely on school meals in Mississippi.

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

Mississippi child poverty

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

Mississippi child poverty atlas

Mississippi pantries

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

Mississippi 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