Household Food Security in the United States in 2021

This report provides statistics on food security in U.S. households throughout 2021 based on the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data collected in December 2021. An estimated 89.8 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2021, with access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (10.2 percent, not significantly different from the 10.5 percent in 2020 and 2019) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 3.8 percent with very low food security (not significantly different from the 3.9 percent in 2020 or 4.1 percent in 2019). Very low food security is the more severe range of food insecurity where one or more household members experienced reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money and other resources for obtaining food. Although the prevalence of food insecurity for all households was not significantly different from 2020, some subgroups experienced statistically significant changes in food insecurity. Food insecurity increased significantly from 2020 for households with no children, especially for women living alone, and increased for elderly people living alone. Food insecurity declined from 2020 for households with children and with children under age 6, married couples with children, and single mothers with children, for households with Black, non-Hispanic reference persons (an adult household member in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented), for all low-income households (with incomes below 185 percent of the Federal poverty threshold), and for house-holds in the South. Among children, food insecurity declined from 2020. Children and adults were food insecure at times during 2021 in 6.2 percent of U.S. households with children, down from 7.6 percent in 2020 and not significantly different from the 6.5 percent in 2019. In 2021, very low food security among children was 0.7 percent (not significantly different from the 0.8 percent in 2020). In 2021, the typical food-secure household spent 16 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 nutrition assistance programs: 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 2021 survey.