Household Food Security in the United States in 2018

An estimated 88.9 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2018, with access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (11.1 percent, down from 11.8 percent in 2017) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 4.3 percent with very low food security (not significantly different from 4.5 percent in 2017), where the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns disrupted at times because the household lacked money and other resources for obtaining food. The 2018 prevalence of food insecurity declined, for the first time, to pre-recession (2007) levels. Among children, changes from 2017 in food insecurity and very low food security were not statistically significant. Children and adults were food insecure in 7.1 percent of U.S. households with children in 2018; very low food security among children was 0.6 percent. In 2018, the typical food-secure household spent 21 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. About 56 percent of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps); Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and the National School Lunch Program) during the month prior to the 2018 survey.