Food Insecurity

Food security is defined as “access by all members of a household at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life” and includes, at a minimum “ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods.” Food insecurity is “the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.” The U.S. Census Bureau introduced a food insecurity measure in 1996 to assess households’ ability to consistently obtain three nutritionally adequate meals a day.

Households can be rated as being food secure, low food secure, or very low food secure. A food insecure household (low food secure or very low food secure) is one that at times during the year was uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. In very low food security households, normal eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake was reduced at times during the year because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. Very low food security corresponds to the common understanding of hunger.

Nationally, 13.7 percent of households, or 18.3 million households, were food insecure in 2024, including 5.4 percent (7.2 million households) that had very low food security, or hunger. Food insecurity increased substantially from 2022-24 compared to 2019-21, reflecting in part the expiration of Congressional measures to strengthen food support programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In Oklahoma, 16.9 percent of households experienced food insecurity on average from 2022-2024, which was the 6th highest rate in the nation. This included 6.4 percent of Oklahoma households that experienced very low food security, or hunger, which was the 12th highest rate in the nation. 

Food insecurity and very low food security are more prevalent in households with children, especially young children, single-parent households, Black and Hispanic households, and low-income households.

Food insecurity is expected to rise in coming years due to cuts to the SNAP program and rising food prices. However, in September 2025, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) announced it would no longer conduct the annual survey of household food security after 30 years, beginning with the cancellation of data collection for 2025.