Childhood food insecurity has continued a steady upward march in New Hampshire, rising for the third consecutive year, according to the most recent census data analyzed by Feeding America.
In 2024, the last year for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture collected food insecurity data through the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, an estimated 15.5% of children in New Hampshire experienced food insecurity, up from 14.4% in 2023 and 13.4% in 2022.
Feeding America’s 2026 Map the Meal Gap report, released at the end of July, indicates that children — as well as Native Americans and residents of tribal communities, military veterans and communities of color — are among the populations with heightened risk of food insecurity.
“The struggle to put food on the table is a growing reality in every corner of the Granite State,” Elsy Cipriani, executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, said in a statement. “What is most heartbreaking is the toll this takes on our children.”
Food insecurity rates climbed in Merrimack County, both overall and among children. In 2024, 11% of residents and 15% of children experienced food insecurity, up from 10.5% overall and 13.7% of children the previous year.
The highest rates of food insecurity in the state were in northernmost Coös County, where 15.4% of the overall population and 22.1% of children are food insecure.
Nationwide, although urban areas have the largest number of food-insecure people per capita, rural counties have the highest estimated rates of food insecurity: They make up 86% of those counties with the highest 10% food insecurity rates in the country, according to Feeding America.
The report relies on the Current Population Survey’s Food Security Supplement, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last year it would discontinue, stating that “redundant, costly, politicized and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger.”
Since 1995, the survey’s supplement has provided metrics about American households with “limited or uncertain access to food,” according to the USDA — their demographics, their access to federally funded food assistance programs, such as SNAP, and the geographic distribution of food insecurity.
But, with cancellation of the supplement, tracking food insecurity is likely to be more difficult.
Feeding America said it plans to update the methodology undergirding its Map the Meal Gap reports. Although cancellation of the survey did not affect the most recent report, the organization noted, “official national and state-level food security data will not be
available for 2025 and may be unavailable in future years.”
“Given the broader social and economic impact of food insecurity, it is vital that local governments, public health agencies, school districts and workplaces understand the level and distribution of food insecurity in their communities,” the report said.
