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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Oklahoma

66% certified free/reduced

Across 1,754 public schools serving 693,929 students, 66.4% of Oklahoma students are certified free or reduced-price. 387 schools (24% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 49.6% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

694K

Students enrolled

1,754

Public schools (CCD)

387

CEP / Provision 2 schools

77

Counties in atlas

Oklahoma 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

Oklahoma at a glance

Free/reduced

66.4%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

24%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

49.6%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

93%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

19.3%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.59

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 77 in Oklahoma.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Choctaw 87.3%
  2. 2 Tillman 85.2%
  3. 3 Hughes 84.3%
  4. 4 Jefferson 84.0%
  5. 5 Okfuskee 83.5%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Choctaw 100%
  2. 2 Adair 79%
  3. 3 Hughes 78%
  4. 4 Seminole 75%
  5. 5 Haskell 70%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 Oklahoma 157K
  2. 2 Tulsa 112K
  3. 3 Cleveland 45K
  4. 4 Canadian 33K
  5. 5 Comanche 21K

Every county in Oklahoma

All 77 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
Adair 16 4,189 81.4% 79% 60.4% 30.7% 0.82
Alfalfa 8 835 51.5% 0% 39.2% 20.1% 0.46
Atoka 10 2,350 80.9% 50% 47.0% 22.9% 0.71
Beaver 8 879 61.1% 0% 38.3% 17.7% 0.51
Beckham 13 3,892 63.7% 0% 49.4% 29.6% 0.52
Blaine 14 2,105 74.4% 21% 35.7% 21.3% 0.64
Bryan 25 8,404 69.8% 0% 52.3% 21.0% 0.50
Caddo 27 4,493 80.5% 23% 56.1% 21.5% 0.63
Canadian 49 32,939 52.8% 0% 37.4% 8.3% 0.46
Carter 28 8,567 69.9% 21% 56.2% 22.4% 0.61
Cherokee 20 7,051 73.4% 13% 57.0% 23.6% 0.56
Choctaw 12 2,112 87.3% 100% 54.7% 30.4% 0.90
Cimarron 4 375 70.1% 0% 46.4% 23.7% 0.55
Cleveland 72 45,480 55.5% 0% 44.9% 13.1% 0.48
Coal 6 1,088 74.5% 33% 21.5% 29.3% 0.67
Comanche 44 20,981 70.9% 0% 47.0% 23.5% 0.55
Cotton 7 985 63.6% 29% 52.3% 21.1% 0.60
Craig 13 2,369 69.4% 0% 53.8% 24.5% 0.55
Creek 38 12,060 66.1% 3% 53.7% 20.2% 0.53
Custer 15 5,400 64.7% 0% 53.0% 20.9% 0.52
Delaware 19 6,300 78.0% 11% 54.8% 25.2% 0.52
Dewey 9 1,042 47.6% 0% 33.8% 16.3% 0.44
Ellis 6 730 56.7% 0% 37.4% 17.8% 0.48
Garfield 33 11,113 72.8% 0% 54.9% 19.0% 0.56
Garvin 21 5,181 68.3% 10% 53.3% 21.1% 0.57
Grady 33 9,605 56.6% 15% 45.1% 13.9% 0.53
Grant 7 758 53.7% 0% 41.6% 17.4% 0.47
Greer 6 870 75.8% 50% 19.2% 29.6% 0.73
Harmon 3 469 80.2% 0% 68.4% 33.0% 0.60
Harper 4 709 61.9% 0% 16.4% 14.7% 0.51
Haskell 10 2,234 76.4% 70% 62.4% 25.3% 0.79
Hughes 13 2,114 84.3% 78% 50.5% 30.2% 0.79
Jackson 16 4,546 66.9% 56% 54.5% 23.3% 0.70
Jefferson 8 1,029 84.0% 25% 63.6% 33.0% 0.69
Johnston 13 1,854 79.1% 13% 51.0% 23.0% 0.56
Kay 22 7,430 75.7% 0% 63.7% 26.9% 0.58
Kingfisher 18 3,790 50.0% 0% 34.1% 14.7% 0.39
Kiowa 10 1,487 70.3% 50% 58.4% 25.6% 0.70
Latimer 8 1,446 83.1% 25% 60.4% 28.7% 0.59
Le Flore 38 9,186 75.5% 42% 56.1% 23.4% 0.70
Lincoln 24 5,057 61.4% 0% 50.3% 31.1% 0.50
Logan 17 5,262 64.8% 0% 50.4% 13.6% 0.50
Love 8 1,758 80.8% 0% 55.9% 17.9% 0.48
Major 6 1,178 59.2% 0% 46.3% 15.3% 0.50
Marshall 6 3,001 77.5% 50% 58.7% 19.9% 0.74
Mayes 22 6,932 64.3% 41% 54.5% 23.2% 0.64
McClain 21 8,827 46.1% 0% 36.0% 11.1% 0.43
McCurtain 29 6,438 82.3% 46% 60.9% 28.3% 0.73
McIntosh 11 2,825 80.4% 25% 64.1% 27.0% 0.55
Murray 7 2,363 63.5% 0% 45.5% 16.7% 0.52
Muskogee 33 11,954 74.7% 65% 54.5% 24.4% 0.76
Noble 10 2,076 60.7% 20% 41.7% 15.6% 0.56
Nowata 8 1,588 70.3% 0% 50.6% 22.7% 0.55
Okfuskee 12 1,738 83.5% 40% 58.8% 27.6% 0.70
Oklahoma 207 156,696 68.6% 52% 50.6% 21.1% 0.68
Okmulgee 22 6,102 76.4% 42% 53.0% 24.8% 0.68
Osage 34 6,753 70.7% 21% 55.9% 18.2% 0.62
Ottawa 21 5,520 75.3% 0% 59.9% 25.5% 0.50
Pawnee 8 2,499 73.6% 0% 60.9% 21.0% 0.54
Payne 26 10,629 55.9% 0% 45.9% 18.9% 0.48
Pittsburg 27 6,422 74.8% 69% 54.6% 21.8% 0.70
Pontotoc 23 7,020 65.0% 0% 46.0% 15.3% 0.53
Pottawatomie 39 12,311 68.2% 30% 54.3% 20.2% 0.62
Pushmataha 13 1,958 76.5% 31% 56.2% 28.6% 0.67
Roger Mills 6 703 55.8% 0% 43.8% 25.8% 0.48
Rogers 32 14,404 56.7% 9% 44.5% 11.5% 0.51
Seminole 26 4,350 81.1% 75% 65.7% 23.5% 0.82
Sequoyah 25 7,497 78.5% 68% 63.4% 33.2% 0.80
Stephens 26 7,319 64.5% 15% 47.3% 17.9% 0.57
Texas 22 4,434 78.1% 0% 48.3% 14.3% 0.57
Tillman 8 1,243 85.2% 25% 50.0% 27.0% 0.70
Tulsa 176 112,350 65.1% 25% 47.5% 18.4% 0.60
Wagoner 22 10,172 57.0% 14% 45.2% 11.6% 0.53
Washington 20 9,589 62.1% 0% 52.4% 17.7% 0.51
Washita 9 1,803 70.4% 0% 57.5% 21.3% 0.55
Woods 9 1,304 53.2% 0% 40.6% 18.5% 0.47
Woodward 13 3,407 60.6% 0% 46.2% 18.0% 0.50

Oklahoma 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 461,027 children who rely on school meals in Oklahoma.

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

Oklahoma child poverty

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

Oklahoma child poverty atlas

Oklahoma pantries

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

Oklahoma 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