PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in New Jersey

38% certified free/reduced

Across 2,364 public schools serving 1,316,801 students, 38.2% of New Jersey students are certified free or reduced-price. 206 schools (11% 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

2,364

Public schools (CCD)

206

CEP / Provision 2 schools

Counties in atlas

New Jersey 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

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New Jersey at a glance

Free/reduced

38.2%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

11%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

0.0%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

81%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

12.4%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.39

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 21 in New Jersey.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

1 Hudson 64.5%
2 Cumberland 59.7%
3 Passaic 57.8%
4 Atlantic 54.6%
5 Essex 51.0%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

1 Passaic 50%
2 Cumberland 31%
3 Mercer 24%
4 Hudson 20%
5 Essex 19%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

1 Essex 140K
2 Bergen 130K
3 Middlesex 127K
4 Union 96K
5 Monmouth 89K

Every county in New Jersey

All 21 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
Atlantic	71	39,836	54.6%	2%	0.0%	16.1%	0.44
Bergen	270	130,353	22.2%	2%	0.0%	7.0%	0.25
Burlington	124	66,096	27.8%	0%	0.0%	7.4%	0.29
Camden	147	79,787	42.5%	16%	0.0%	17.2%	0.43
Cape May	28	10,809	37.5%	17%	0.0%	13.3%	0.41
Cumberland	47	26,890	59.7%	31%	0.0%	19.0%	0.54
Essex	228	139,648	51.0%	19%	0.0%	18.6%	0.46
Gloucester	79	44,209	27.7%	4%	0.0%	9.6%	0.34
Hudson	122	83,877	64.5%	20%	0.0%	25.5%	0.58
Hunterdon	44	17,200	12.2%	0%	0.0%	4.1%	0.17
Mercer	94	56,534	37.1%	24%	0.0%	12.5%	0.43
Middlesex	192	126,981	36.3%	6%	0.0%	9.0%	0.39
Monmouth	172	89,377	24.5%	1%	0.0%	7.0%	0.29
Morris	145	71,114	15.2%	0%	0.0%	5.1%	0.20
Ocean	106	65,248	37.6%	9%	0.0%	14.3%	0.41
Passaic	143	77,642	57.8%	50%	0.0%	18.9%	0.62
Salem	30	10,206	44.8%	10%	0.0%	14.8%	0.45
Somerset	79	51,344	24.3%	0%	0.0%	5.7%	0.30
Sussex	44	18,838	18.2%	0%	0.0%	5.7%	0.26
Union	161	95,750	48.4%	0%	0.0%	10.9%	0.39
Warren	38	15,062	29.4%	0%	0.0%	10.3%	0.30

New Jersey 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 503,346 children who rely on school meals in New Jersey.

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

New Jersey child poverty

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

New Jersey child poverty atlas

New Jersey pantries

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

New Jersey 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