Data Dashboard

Food Access and Security

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Note: Dollar values are adjusted for inflation to 2020 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. [https://today.duke.edu/2018/06/achieve-food-security-all-build-trust-communities]

Food Security in New England

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. Rhode Island’s rate of food insecurity was the highest in New England in the early 2000s. It then decreased before spiking due to the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009). The prevalence of food insecurity in Rhode Island did not decrease until after 2012. The COVID pandemic then sharply increased food insecurity in the region. Note that USDA estimates for states represent 3-year averages (e.g., 2019-2021, 2020-2022).
Data sources: Matthew P. Rabbit, Laura J. Hales, Michael P. Burke and Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 2022, Household Food Security in the United States in 2022, ERR-325, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Food Security in Rhode Island

Click on the light blue box in the key to see the rates of Very Low Food Security by year.
An average of 11.7% (over 35,000 households) of Rhode Island households were food insecure from 2001 to 2022. 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 Source: Matthew P. Rabbit, Laura J. Hales, Michael P. Burke and Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 2022, Household Food Security in the United States in 2022, ERR-325, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Low Income/Low Access Census Tracts by Race, 2019

The USDA identifies “low income/low access” 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. 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. About 29% of Rhode Islanders are Hispanic, Black, Asian, two or more races, or Indigenous. However, 51% of residents of census tracts identified as low income/low access were BIPOC (i.e., not White). In fact, about 47% of all BIPOC Rhode Islanders live in low income/low access neighborhoods.

Data Sources: Low income/low access classification: USDA Food Access Research Atlas. Race/ethnicity demographics: U.S. Census Bureau (2016-2020), Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org.

Food Insecurity in Rhode Island by Race/Ethnicity, 2021-2022

Using data from the RI Life Index, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank estimated higher rates of food insecurity than Feeding America did during the COVID-19 pandemic (18.4% for all households compared to 11.4%). A comparison between 2021 and 2022 data indicates increased food insecurity for all household types. This is likely due to inflation and the elimination of many COVID-19 response programs. Hispanic and Black households in Rhode Island had almost double the rate of food insecurity than White households in 2022.

Note: All Other Households include Asian, Indigenous, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and more than one race/ethnicity.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 2022 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island.

Food Insecurity in Rhode Island for Households with Children, 2021-2022

Food Insecurity in Rhode Island is higher for households with children: over 25% of Rhode Island households with at least one child under 18 were food insecure in 2021. This increased to 41.1% in 2022. This is likely due to inflation and the elimination of many COVID-19 response programs.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 2021 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island.

SNAP Participation in Rhode Island by County

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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. As of June 2023, about 142,000 Rhode Islanders were receiving SNAP benefits.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, SNAP Benefits Recipients in Rhode Island [BRRI44M647NCEN], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, July 28, 2022.

SNAP Participation in Rhode Island by Race/Ethnicity

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An average of 15.3% of Rhode Island households received SNAP benefits from 2016 to 2021. This varied widely by race, ethnicity, and location.

Hispanic and Black Rhode Islanders were much more likely to receive SNAP benefits than White Rhode Islanders:

  • 36.3% of Hispanic households (19,851 households)
  • 28.3% of Black households (6,816 households)
  • 10.1% of White households (32,824 households)

19.4% (50,301) of households in Providence County received SNAP benefits, significantly higher than Kent (12.3%, 8,917), Newport (8.6%, 3,054), Washington (6.6%, 3,351) and Bristol (6.5%, 1,260) counties.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2016-2020), Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP in the Past 12 Months by Race of Householder, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org.

National School Lunch Participation in Rhode Island

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.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Department of Education, SNAP data tables.

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

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 more than 16,000 people participated in the program in 2022, down from about 20,000 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

Scroll over the chart to see the number of people by year.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is the largest emergency food distributor in the state. They estimate that an average of 56,000 RI residents were served every month by the charitable food system over the past 5 years, including a spike in need at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a dip in 2021 while many emergency COVID-19 response programs were in operation, and another spike in 2022 likely due to inflation and the elimination of many COVID-19 response programs.

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

Data Sources: Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 2022 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island.

Lack of Access to Healthcare by Economic Status in Rhode Island

Food insecurity is a health care issue. People who experience poverty are more likely to be food insecure. People who are food insecure are at an increased risk for a variety of negative health outcomes and health disparities, including diet-related diseases like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, anxiety, and depression. These same individuals are also those most likely to face difficulties in accessing healthcare.

Approximately a fifth of adults with an annual income of <$15,000 did not seek out medical care because of cost. According to the Department of Health, approximately 45% of Rhode Island adults with diabetes reported worrying about affording nutritious meals in the past year.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Department of Health, Healthcare Access Data.

Lack of Access to Healthcare by Race/Ethnicity in Rhode Island

Because they are more likely to experience poverty, people of color are disproportionately affected by food insecurity and poor health outcomes. Rhode Island’s Hispanic population faces the highest rates of barriers to medical care, with over a fifth of adults indicating they were unable to seek out healthcare because of cost in 2016.

Data Sources: Rhode Island Department of Health, Healthcare Access Data.