Household Food Security in the United States in 2023

This report provides statistics on food security in U.S. households throughout 2023 based on the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, in December 2023. An estimated 86.5 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2023, with access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (13.5 percent, statistically significantly higher than the 12.8 percent in 2022) were food insecure at least some time during the year. Very low food security is the more severe range of food insecurity where one or more household members experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money or other resources for food. In 2023, 5.1 percent of households were very low food secure, an estimate that is statistically similar to the 5.1 percent in 2022. Children and adults were food insecure at times during 2023 in 8.9 percent of U.S. households with children, statistically similar to the 8.8 percent in 2022. In 2023, very low food security among children was 1.0 percent, statistically similar to the 1.0 percent in 2022 and 0.7 percent in 2021. In 2023, 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 58 percent of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal nutrition assistance programs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 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 before the 2023 survey.