Which American households struggle to put food on the table?

While most U.S. households are food secure, a minority experience food insecurity at times during the year, meaning that their access to adequate food for active, healthy living is limited by a lack of money and other resources. Some experience very low food security, a more severe range of food insecurity where food intake of one or more members is reduced and normal eating patterns are disrupted. In 2012, about 41 percent of U.S. households with incomes below the Federal poverty line were food insecure. Rates of food insecurity and very low food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for single-parent households, and for Black and Hispanic households. Food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas than in suburban areas. This chart appears in ERS’s data product, Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials.

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