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PantryPath Research · School Hunger Atlas

School hunger in Washington

50% certified free/reduced

Across 2,091 public schools serving 1,038,738 students, 49.9% of Washington students are certified free or reduced-price. 1,100 schools (57% of NSLP participants) operate under the Community Eligibility Provision, and 41.2% of students are directly certified through SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid linkage.

1.0M

Students enrolled

2,091

Public schools (CCD)

1,100

CEP / Provision 2 schools

39

Counties in atlas

Washington 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

Washington at a glance

Free/reduced

49.9%

Share of enrollment

CEP share

57%

Of NSLP schools

Direct cert

41.2%

SNAP/TANF/Medicaid

NSLP schools

92%

Serve NSLP meals

5–17 in poverty

11.2%

Census SAIPE 2023

Access score

0.61

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 39 in Washington.

Highest free/reduced share

Certified ≤185% FPL per enrollment

  1. 1 Yakima 80.0%
  2. 2 Adams 80.0%
  3. 3 Franklin 74.6%
  4. 4 Ferry 73.6%
  5. 5 Grant 70.8%

Highest CEP adoption

Of NSLP schools — min. 3 NSLP schools

  1. 1 Ferry 100%
  2. 2 Franklin 97%
  3. 3 Yakima 93%

Largest enrollment

Total students in CCD universe

  1. 1 King 264K
  2. 2 Pierce 134K
  3. 3 Snohomish 112K
  4. 4 Spokane 70K
  5. 5 Clark 70K

Every county in Washington

All 39 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 15 5,281 80.0% 64% 70.7% 19.4% 0.78
Asotin 8 2,955 54.5% 75% 45.6% 16.9% 0.70
Benton 61 36,330 54.1% 87% 45.3% 12.2% 0.71
Chelan 35 11,932 61.9% 72% 48.6% 12.6% 0.69
Clallam 21 7,420 60.1% 78% 51.9% 15.0% 0.71
Clark 122 69,874 44.8% 59% 39.9% 8.1% 0.58
Columbia 5 1,045 28.1% 50% 26.2% 17.6% 0.45
Cowlitz 37 16,447 60.9% 71% 50.9% 15.2% 0.71
Douglas 18 7,196 70.1% 82% 59.5% 14.3% 0.79
Ferry 9 818 73.6% 100% 50.6% 28.4% 0.87
Franklin 34 20,464 74.6% 97% 57.6% 15.0% 0.85
Garfield 2 349 49.6% 100% 42.4% 16.3% 0.75
Grant 52 20,516 70.8% 90% 63.9% 16.7% 0.81
Grays Harbor 40 10,591 69.2% 86% 57.6% 17.2% 0.79
Island 18 8,204 43.0% 0% 31.6% 9.4% 0.39
Jefferson 9 2,040 58.2% 56% 40.9% 16.5% 0.66
King 448 264,139 38.5% 40% 31.1% 9.8% 0.50
Kitsap 64 32,884 41.7% 22% 31.4% 8.4% 0.46
Kittitas 16 5,088 46.2% 31% 37.6% 12.3% 0.49
Klickitat 20 4,899 50.7% 67% 33.6% 16.6% 0.60
Lewis 38 12,339 60.9% 81% 53.8% 14.7% 0.72
Lincoln 15 2,196 53.0% 27% 43.9% 13.3% 0.55
Mason 20 8,233 61.5% 89% 58.0% 16.1% 0.75
Okanogan 28 11,079 68.8% 84% 50.9% 20.9% 0.77
Pacific 14 2,824 66.1% 86% 55.2% 17.5% 0.79
Pend Oreille 10 1,596 68.7% 89% 58.0% 20.5% 0.79
Pierce 243 133,707 50.9% 51% 41.6% 9.8% 0.60
San Juan 12 1,441 46.4% 0% 34.7% 13.1% 0.37
Skagit 37 17,346 58.3% 83% 50.1% 11.7% 0.73
Skamania 10 1,478 47.1% 56% 39.1% 14.0% 0.58
Snohomish 173 111,541 42.7% 38% 33.7% 9.4% 0.52
Spokane 148 70,486 54.1% 70% 46.0% 11.0% 0.66
Stevens 29 5,957 60.9% 89% 52.3% 16.8% 0.76
Thurston 71 40,432 44.3% 24% 35.4% 8.9% 0.48
Wahkiakum 2 412 62.1% 100% 50.0% 18.2% 0.81
Walla Walla 26 7,971 67.0% 91% 51.7% 16.5% 0.79
Whatcom 57 25,701 47.0% 58% 39.9% 11.1% 0.60
Whitman 28 4,704 41.2% 30% 34.1% 12.3% 0.46
Yakima 96 50,823 80.0% 93% 68.6% 19.8% 0.85

Washington 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 518,298 children who rely on school meals in Washington.

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

Washington child poverty

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

Washington child poverty atlas

Washington pantries

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

Washington 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