Food insecurity hits hardest along lines of race, household structure, disability, and income. In the United States, 13.7 percent of households (18.3 million) experienced food insecurity at some point during 2024. But that national average masks dramatic differences: some groups face rates two or three times higher. Globally, an estimated 673 million people faced hunger in 2024, and 2.3 billion experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.
Single-Mother Households
Among all demographic groups in the U.S., single-mother households with children have the highest rate of food insecurity at 28.7 percent. That means roughly one in three single mothers struggles to consistently feed her family. The combination of a single income, childcare costs, and limited time to prepare meals creates a cycle that’s difficult to break. By comparison, the overall household rate of 13.7 percent is less than half that figure.
Race and Ethnicity
American Indian and Alaska Native households carry the heaviest burden of any racial or ethnic group, with a food insecurity rate of 23.3 percent based on USDA data from 2016 to 2021. That’s more than double the national average for all households surveyed during the same period (11.1 percent). Many Native communities face compounding challenges: geographic isolation, limited grocery infrastructure, and persistent poverty rooted in historical policy failures.
Black households are 1.9 times as likely to be food insecure as the average U.S. household, and Hispanic households are 1.5 times as likely. CDC data from 2021 found that 12.2 percent of non-Hispanic Black adults and 8 percent of Hispanic adults reported food insecurity in the previous 30 days. White households, by contrast, had a food insecurity rate of 7.9 percent.
People With Disabilities
Disability is one of the strongest predictors of food insecurity, even after accounting for income, age, gender, and race. Households with a disabled member had a food insecurity rate of 17.6 percent in 2020, compared to 8.9 percent for households without one. At the individual level, the gap is starker: nearly 30 percent of people with disabilities reported food insecurity in national health surveys, compared to about 16 percent of those without disabilities.
Across multiple national surveys, having a disability is associated with 225 to 292 percent increased odds of living in a food-insecure household. The reasons are layered. Disability often limits earning potential while increasing expenses for medical care, transportation, and specialized food needs. Many assistance programs don’t account for these added costs, leaving a gap between what people receive and what they actually need.
Households With Children
In 2024, 18.4 percent of U.S. households with children under 18 were food insecure, a rate well above the national average. That translates to 6.7 million households. In about half of those (3.3 million), both children and adults in the home were going without adequate food. Parents typically shield their children first, cutting their own meals before reducing what kids eat. Still, roughly 751,000 children lived in households where at least one child experienced very low food security, meaning skipped meals and disrupted eating patterns.
Children who grow up food insecure face ripple effects that extend well beyond hunger itself. Inadequate nutrition during key developmental windows is linked to problems with concentration, behavior, and academic performance. For families already stretched thin, food insecurity often overlaps with housing instability and limited access to healthcare, compounding the impact on children’s wellbeing.
Older Adults
Over 5 million Americans aged 60 and older are estimated to be food insecure, a number that has climbed more than 45 percent over the past two decades. About 14 percent of the older U.S. population now falls into this category. Adults over 80 tend to report slightly lower rates (around 6 percent) than those aged 65 to 79 (around 9 percent), possibly because the oldest adults are more likely to receive institutional support or live with family.
For seniors, food insecurity doesn’t just mean hunger. It’s tied to poorer intake of both calories and essential nutrients, which raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, frailty, falls, depression, and cognitive decline. Difficulty chewing or swallowing, reduced sense of taste and smell, and limited mobility can all make it harder to shop for and prepare food. These physical changes turn food insecurity into a health spiral: poor nutrition worsens chronic conditions, which in turn makes it harder to access food.
Urban vs. Rural Communities
The geography of food insecurity is more nuanced than many people expect. Nationally, food insecurity rates are highest in urban cities (15.3 percent), followed closely by rural areas (14.7 percent), with suburban areas lowest at 10.5 percent. Among children aged 6 to 11, urban households actually report higher food insecurity (29 percent) than rural ones (19 percent).
This urban paradox stems from concentrated poverty in city neighborhoods where affordable, nutritious food is scarce. Low-income urban areas often have plenty of fast food and convenience stores but few full-service grocery options. Heavy marketing of processed foods in these neighborhoods pushes consumption toward cheap, calorie-dense choices that fill stomachs but don’t nourish. Children in food-insecure urban households are more likely to be overweight or obese, a pattern that reflects the quality of available food rather than the quantity. Rural communities face a different version of the same problem: long distances to stores, limited public transit, and fewer food assistance sites.
The Role of Food Prices
Rising food costs push vulnerable groups deeper into insecurity. According to analysis from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, a 10 percent increase in food prices is associated with a 3.5 percent rise in moderate or severe food insecurity globally. Between 2019 and 2024, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity climbed to 28 percent worldwide, up 3 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels. Low-income countries bore the worst of it, seeing food insecurity jump by 6.7 percentage points over that five-year span.
In practical terms, when grocery bills rise, the groups already at highest risk are the first to cut back. A single mother spending a third of her income on food has no buffer when prices spike. A person with a disability on a fixed income faces the same math. The 2.6 billion people worldwide who already cannot afford a healthy diet in 2024 are the ones most exposed when prices climb further.