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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Montana

46% certified free/reduced

Across 817 public schools serving 148,835 students, 46.4% of Montana students are certified free or reduced-price. 149 schools (20% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 0.0% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

149K

Students enrolled

817

Public schools (CCD)

149

CEP / Provision 2 schools

56

Counties in atlas

Montana 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

Montana at a glance

Free/reduced

46.4%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

20%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

0.0%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

90%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

11.6%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.47

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 56 in Montana.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Mineral 100.0%
  2. 2 Big Horn 99.8%
  3. 3 Glacier 86.8%
  4. 4 Roosevelt 86.0%
  5. 5 Blaine 85.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Big Horn 100%
  2. 2 Deer Lodge 100%
  3. 3 Mineral 100%
  4. 4 Hill 60%
  5. 5 Roosevelt 59%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Yellowstone 24K
  2. 2 Flathead 15K
  3. 3 Gallatin 14K
  4. 4 Missoula 14K
  5. 5 Cascade 12K

Every county in Montana

All 56 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
Beaverhead 12 1,232 40.4% 0% 0.0% 14.7% 0.30
Big Horn 15 2,433 99.8% 100% 0.0% 20.4% 0.99
Blaine 17 1,324 85.0% 50% 0.0% 19.8% 0.74
Broadwater 3 700 42.6% 0% 0.0% 10.8% 0.41
Carbon 19 1,354 39.7% 16% 0.0% 11.3% 0.45
Carter 6 159 40.9% 0% 0.0% 16.3% 0.30
Cascade 42 11,525 54.6% 23% 0.0% 11.6% 0.51
Chouteau 15 731 50.6% 0% 0.0% 17.0% 0.41
Custer 10 1,586 36.4% 0% 0.0% 12.5% 0.34
Daniels 3 277 30.0% 0% 0.0% 10.7% 0.35
Dawson 10 1,209 44.1% 0% 0.0% 12.3% 0.36
Deer Lodge 4 1,026 83.7% 100% 0.0% 14.8% 0.92
Fallon 7 562 31.3% 0% 0.0% 11.5% 0.36
Fergus 24 1,651 47.6% 0% 0.0% 12.7% 0.42
Flathead 46 15,204 45.2% 20% 0.0% 8.5% 0.48
Gallatin 47 14,228 18.6% 0% 0.0% 5.1% 0.26
Garfield 7 185 46.0% 0% 0.0% 22.2% 0.32
Glacier 18 2,725 86.8% 58% 0.0% 23.8% 0.74
Golden Valley 6 136 35.3% 0% 0.0% 41.8% 0.38
Granite 7 386 48.4% 0% 0.0% 15.5% 0.41
Hill 17 3,002 79.5% 60% 0.0% 20.9% 0.75
Jefferson 12 1,878 31.7% 0% 0.0% 8.6% 0.36
Judith Basin 9 268 45.5% 0% 0.0% 18.8% 0.43
Lake 20 4,291 76.6% 56% 0.0% 16.3% 0.73
Lewis and Clark 29 9,879 27.8% 21% 0.0% 8.6% 0.40
Liberty 5 255 56.9% 0% 0.0% 20.8% 0.44
Lincoln 14 2,455 62.8% 33% 0.0% 21.8% 0.59
Madison 13 993 35.6% 0% 0.0% 10.6% 0.38
McCone 5 236 36.4% 0% 0.0% 18.0% 0.38
Meagher 3 180 47.8% 0% 0.0% 18.1% 0.44
Mineral 9 662 100.0% 100% 0.0% 16.6% 1.00
Missoula 43 14,152 41.0% 5% 0.0% 9.0% 0.41
Musselshell 6 635 59.1% 0% 0.0% 21.9% 0.50
Park 15 1,713 41.8% 0% 0.0% 11.5% 0.37
Petroleum 3 61 70.5% 0% 0.0% 21.0% 0.55
Phillips 13 667 62.2% 25% 0.0% 18.0% 0.57
Pondera 15 941 59.9% 27% 0.0% 20.8% 0.53
Powder River 5 227 37.0% 0% 0.0% 17.8% 0.30
Powell 8 705 39.0% 0% 0.0% 16.2% 0.30
Prairie 3 153 54.9% 0% 0.0% 16.1% 0.47
Ravalli 22 5,727 51.6% 27% 0.0% 12.7% 0.54
Richland 15 1,832 37.0% 0% 0.0% 10.9% 0.37
Roosevelt 22 2,369 86.0% 59% 0.0% 22.5% 0.81
Rosebud 15 1,533 69.3% 36% 0.0% 22.3% 0.64
Sanders 16 1,328 63.2% 50% 0.0% 19.5% 0.67
Sheridan 9 485 39.6% 0% 0.0% 14.0% 0.40
Silver Bow 12 4,403 62.6% 40% 0.0% 14.0% 0.60
Stillwater 17 1,395 29.4% 0% 0.0% 8.0% 0.34
Sweet Grass 6 491 32.4% 0% 0.0% 10.3% 0.26
Teton 17 1,057 45.4% 0% 0.0% 16.1% 0.40
Toole 9 692 58.2% 0% 0.0% 14.5% 0.47
Treasure 3 85 38.8% 0% 0.0% 16.3% 0.39
Valley 16 1,115 51.8% 19% 0.0% 19.1% 0.52
Wheatland 6 299 70.2% 50% 0.0% 22.9% 0.70
Wibaux 3 148 40.5% 0% 0.0% 15.7% 0.40
Yellowstone 64 23,890 37.6% 14% 0.0% 9.8% 0.43

Montana 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 69,051 children who rely on school meals in Montana.

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

Montana child poverty

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

Montana child poverty atlas

Montana pantries

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

Montana 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