A recent report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service indicates that food insecurity rose by 2% in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022.

This report provides statistics based on the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, in December 2022. 

“An estimated 87.2%t of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2022, with access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members,” the report states. 

The remaining 12.8% were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5% with very low food security. 

Very low food security is the more severe range of food insecurity where one or more household members experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money and other resources for obtaining food.

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Children and adults were food insecure at times during 2022 in 9% of U.S. households with children, up from 6.2% in 2021 and 7.6% in 2020. 

“In 2022, very low food security among children was 1%, statistically significantly higher than the 0.7% in 2021,” the research shows. 

About 55% of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal nutrition assistance programs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and the National School Lunch Program during the month prior to the 2022 survey.