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Food Access and Security

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Note: Dollar values are adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars.

How does Food Insecurity Happen?

Lack of Affordable Housing, Health Problems, Social Isolation, Low Wages, & Medical Care Costs.

What is food access?
Food access exists when individuals have adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.

What is food security?
Food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious foods.

What is nutrition security?
Nutrition security requires access to adequate and appropriate healthcare services, along with a diet that meets the nutritional needs for a healthy and active life. Cultural relevance of food is also an important aspect of nutrition security.

Figure Inspired By: Hill, D. (2018, June 27). To Achieve Food Security For All, Build Trust With Communities. Duke Today.

Food Security in New England, 2000-2024

Click on the the dark blue box in the key to see the Rhode Island trend line.

Food insecurity is defined by the USDA as the lack of consistent access to enough food for a healthy and active life. Food insecurity is rooted in poverty and economic upheaval: it spiked for the New England states as a result of the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecurity is on the rise again throughout the country, but the federal government ended this research program in 2025.

Data sources: Rabbitt, M. P., Reed-Jones, M., Hales, L. J., Suttles, Shellye, & Burke, M. P. (2024). Household food security in the United States in 2024 (Report No. ERR-358). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Note that USDA estimates for states represent 3-year averages (e.g., 2019-2021, 2022-2024).

Food Security in Rhode Island, 2000-2024

Click on the yellow box in the key to see the rates of Very Low Food Security by year.
An average of 11.6% (over 35,000 households) of Rhode Island households were food insecure from 2001 to 2023. An average of 7.3% of food insecure households had “low food security,” which is defined as an experience of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. An average of 4.3% had “very low food security,” which is defined as an experience of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. Food insecurity increased in Rhode Island as a result of the Great Recession and slowly decreased over the course of several years. A major increase in safety net resources are believed to have buffered the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity. However, some data sources are now showing an increase in food insecurity in 2022 and 2023 as some of the COVID-19 safety net resources are no longer in place.

Data Sources: Rabbitt, M. P., Reed-Jones, M., Hales, L. J., Suttles, Shellye, & Burke, M. P. (2024). Household food security in the United States in 2024 (Report No. ERR-358). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Note that USDA estimates for states represent 3-year averages (e.g., 2019-2021, 2022-2024).

Poverty and Food Insecurity in Rhode Island, 2001-2024

The percent of Rhode Islanders in poverty gradually increased from 2001 to 2009. Poverty then jumped several percentage points due to the Great Recession and lingered at over 14% for six years. Poverty then decreased from 2014 to 2019, although it did not go below the percentage in 2001. The COVID-19 pandemic then spiked the percent of Rhode Islanders in poverty to 12.1% (126,971 people), before decreasing to 11.4% (124,944 people) in 2023. Food insecurity in Rhode Island mirrors poverty trends and has recently increased.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (via FRED) and USDA Economic Research Service, Household Food Security in the United States, multiple years.

Low Income/Low Access Census Tracts by Race/Ethnicity

The USDA identifies “low income/low access” (LILA) census tracts where a large proportion of the residents have low-incomes and are more than 1/2 mile from a food source for urban populations, and over 10 miles for rural populations. About 26% (64 out of 244) of census tracts in Rhode Island were deemed to be low income/low access.

Social and commercial determinants also set the stage for lifelong disparities in food access by race/ethnicity and income. Sorting these low income/low access census tracts by race and Hispanic ethnicity, we find a strong correlation between the percentage of residents who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or other people of color and low income/low access. Hispanic/Latino, Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Rhode Islanders of two or more races or some “other” race—make up 32.0% of the state’s population, but 53.6% of its population living in low-income low- access census tracts.

Data Sources: Low income/low access classification: USDA Food Access Research Atlas. Race/ethnicity demographics: American Community Survey, Table B03002: Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race, 2024 5-Year Estimates.

Food Insecurity in Rhode Island by Race/Ethnicity, 2020-2025

The percent of food insecure households increased 37.5% from 2020 to 2025, according to the RI Life Index. This survey asks Rhode Islanders two types of food security questions: actual experiences about food security and perceptions of community access to nutritious food. Questions about actual experiences with food security were not asked in 2019, so we do not have a pre-COVID estimate. Hispanic and Black Rhode Islanders had higher percentages of food insecurity than White Rhode Islanders at the start of the COVID pandemic. Percentages of food insecure Rhode Islanders then decreased in 2021, probably due to an uptick in federal benefits. Percentages of food insecurity for all respondents then increased in 2022, 2023, and 2024, possibly as some federal benefits ended.
Data Sources: RI Life Index. The RI Life Index was created by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Brown University School of Public Health in 2019. It has been administered to over 2,000 Rhode Islanders every year since 2019. The response rate for 2025 was 5.4%.

SNAP Participation in Rhode Island by County, 1997-2023

Explore the data by race/ethnicity by clicking on a color in the Key
The primary Federal program designed to ensure food security is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The number of Rhode Island residents receiving SNAP benefits more than doubled during the Great Recession, and has not come down to previous levels since.

Providence County, where most of the state’s population lives, has the largest number of SNAP recipients.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, SNAP Benefits Recipients in Rhode Island [BRRI44M647NCEN], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

SNAP Participation in Rhode Island by Race/Ethnicity, 1997-2024

Explore the data by race/ethnicity by clicking on a color in the Key

Low wages ripple throughout society as food system workers are disproportionately impacted by food and nutrition insecurity. From 2020 to 2024, an average of 16.3% (68,111) of Rhode Island households received Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to augment their grocery budgets. White Rhode Islanders make up the majority of the state’s population (66.1%) and, consequently, the largest number of SNAP recipients in Rhode Island were White. But only 9.6% of White households received SNAP benefits.

In contrast:

  • Hispanic Rhode Islanders make up 18.8% of the state’s population and 33.7% of Hispanic
    households received SNAP benefits.
  • Black Rhode Islanders make up 4.8% of the
    state’s population and 24.4% of Black house-
    holds received SNAP benefits.
  • Indigenous Rhode Islanders make up 0.2% of
    the state’s population and 29.9% of
    Indigenous households received SNAP
    benefits.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP in Past 12 Months by Race of Householder. 2024 5-Year Estimates.

National School Lunch Participation in Rhode Island, 2001-2025

From 2001 to 2019, more than 76,000 students per year participated in the National School Lunch Program, a low-cost or free lunch program for qualifying students. This translated to an average of 13.5 million meals served during each school year. Participation dramatically decreased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When schools closed during the pandemic, school lunches were served under the Summer Food Service Program which allowed for a “grab and go” style of distribution. Since 2023, the number of school meals served has been more than 1 million below the historic average.

Data Sources: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, SNAP data tables.

WIC (Women, Infants & Children) Program Participation in Rhode Island, 2017-2025

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides food, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and other postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk. The program serves about half of all infants born in the U.S.

In Rhode Island about 18,000 people participated in the program in 2025, down from 19,500 in 2017. Reduced enrollment in Rhode Island is consistent with national trends.

Data Sources: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, WIC data tables.

Number of People Served by the Rhode Island Charitable Food System, 2016-2025

Scroll over the chart to see the number of people by year.
Average Number of People Served by Charitable Food System Increased 74.4% from 2016 to 2024: The Rhode Island Community Food Bank estimated that a record number of Rhode Islanders—102,892—sought assistance through the Food Bank and its network of 147 member agencies in 2025. High food prices, economic instability, and cuts/delays in federal nutrition assistance are thought to be the primary drivers of the increased need for food assistance.

Many other individuals are served by programs outside of the RI Community Food Bank network organizations.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 2025 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island.