What the Data Say: Food Insecurity in Congressional Districts

(Ben Spoer) We’re facing a critical moment right now for food security in the United States. The USDA’s latest Household Food Security report revealed that 13.5% of U.S. households experienced food insecurity in 2023, a significantly higher proportion than the 12.8% of households experiencing it in the previous year.

And while families are grappling with high costs of living and rising food prices, our federal nutrition assistance programs are at risk of losing essential funding. That’s why I’m glad to join Jamie Bussel, senior program officer at RWJF, to gain her perspective on the moment we’re in right now, and share how the Congressional District Health Dashboard (CDHD) is committed to meeting it.

Jamie, thanks for sitting down with me. I know that your work focuses on nutrition policy and food justice, especially as it relates to the health of children and families. Can you share an overview of where we are right now?

(Jamie Bussel) Hi, Ben – it’s great to talk with you. You’re right that we’re at an important moment for food policy. The House recently passed the budget reconciliation that would cut $300 billion in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), severely limiting its reach to all those who need it. SNAP is the federal food program that provides food purchasing assistance for people and families with low incomes to supplement their grocery budget. Other threats to food security in the U.S. right now include changes to free and reduced-price school meals for kids in need, and cuts to local food purchasing programs for schools and food banks.

I saw that earlier this year, the Congressional District Health Dashboard added food insecurity as one of the metrics it tracks.  As you know, RWJF is committed to supporting the creation of healthy communities where all residents have a fair opportunity to thrive and live their healthiest lives—and food access is an important piece of that puzzle. Why did your team decide to add this now, and how do you define and measure food insecurity in this context?

Food insecurity has been on our radar for a long time because it is directly affected by policies made by congressional representatives. Jamie, you listed some compelling reasons why this metric is more important now than ever, so we are glad to have gotten it out in time to inform the decisions being made in Congress right now. Our estimates for food insecurity come from the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) dataset. If a respondent to the BRFSS survey reports that they ran out of food and did not have enough money to buy more in the last year, they are classified in these data as ‘food insecure.’

This sounds like a fantastic resource for food and nutrition advocates, researchers, and decision makers. I know that in my home state of New Jersey, nearly 14% of adults experienced food insecurity according to the latest data from 2022—but that access varies widely in communities across the state. What does the Dashboard tell us about how food insecurity shows up across congressional districts in my home state of New Jersey?

Jamie, you’re right that food insecurity can vary a lot within the same state. In 2022, New Jersey’s 7th congressional district had the lowest food insecurity estimate at 8.9%. Meanwhile the 10th district, which includes parts of Newark and Jersey City, had the highest estimate with 25.8% of the district’s population experiencing food insecurity.

Even within the same district, there were big differences across census tracts (similar to neighborhoods). In the 10th district, food insecurity ranges from 3.9% to 63.4%, the state’s highest tract-level estimate.

With these numbers you can start to get a feel for the wide differences in food insecurity not only across the state but also within districts.

Jamie, I’d love to ask for your perspective: What solutions could we be looking into to address these patterns of food insecurity, particularly at the local level?

We can all agree that everyone should have access to nutritious, affordable food, no matter where one lives—and I’m inspired by the solutions that our grantee partners are exploring at the local level to make that a reality. From cultivating urban gardens in underserved neighborhoods, to teaching their community members how to connect and work with the land to grow their own food, initiatives like these are integral to advancing food justice.

On the federal level, nutrition assistance programs remain some of the best tools we have to improve food security. SNAP, WIC, and school meals are three of the strongest policy interventions we have for keeping kids and families fed, and it’s imperative that our decision makers on both sides of the aisle continue to fully fund these vital programs.

Before we wrap up, can you give us a preview of what’s next for the Health Dashboards Initiative? And how can people stay up-to-date on when new metrics are available?

With our next data release, we’ll add food insecurity, along with many new cities, features, and other new metrics, to the City Health Dashboard. You can keep in touch by subscribing to our newsletter.