USDA Food Access Research Atlas · Census ACS
Where America lives far from food
County-level food-desert and low-access data for every U.S. county: SNAP participation, poverty, and vehicle access, built from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and Census ACS (2024), each figure traceable to the federal row.
The national picture
About 67.6M Americans - 22.1% of the population, live in a low-access area, and 18.7M of them are low-income enough to live in a USDA-designated food desert.
- 67.6M
- low-access residents
- 18.7M
- food-desert residents
- 12.1%
- households on SNAP
- 8.2%
- lack a vehicle
Low access = more than 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) from a supermarket. Food deserts add a low-income condition (USDA LILA, 1-and-10-mile measure).
Figures reflect the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019, 2010 population basis) and Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates. Page compiled .
Food access across the 50 states
Every state colored by its population-weighted low-access share, the share of residents who live far from a supermarket. Click any state for its county breakdown.
USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas (2019), population-weighted · Census ACS 2024 context
U.S. census tracts by food-access tier
All 71,700 U.S. census tracts in the USDA Atlas, grouped by classification. Food deserts are both low-access and low-income; low-access tracts are far from a supermarket but not low-income.
Worst food deserts
| # | County | Low-access |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nye County, NV | 87.1% |
| 2 | Palo Pinto County, TX | 68.1% |
| 3 | Coryell County, TX | 63.7% |
| 4 | Pulaski County, MO | 63.3% |
| 5 | Valencia County, NM | 58.8% |
| 6 | Bristol County, RI | 56.0% |
| 7 | Forsyth County, GA | 55.9% |
| 8 | Beauregard Parish, LA | 55.8% |
| 9 | Baker County, FL | 55.6% |
| 10 | Douglas County, WA | 55.5% |
Browse by state
Largest food-desert populations
Counties with the most residents who are both low-income and low-access, where the USDA food-desert measure concentrates
- Harris, TX
Harris County, Texas
236,351 people
- Maricopa, AZ
Maricopa County, Arizona
210,290 people
- San Bernardino, CA
San Bernardino County, California
173,574 people
- Dallas, TX
Dallas County, Texas
171,370 people
- Bexar, TX
Bexar County, Texas
166,124 people
- Hidalgo, TX
Hidalgo County, Texas
157,181 people
- Riverside, CA
Riverside County, California
152,519 people
- Tarrant, TX
Tarrant County, Texas
148,852 people
What this shows These are the most populous counties, so they carry the largest absolute food-desert populations, a different lens from the rural counties that top the low-access-share ranking. Browse any county for its local breakdown.
What the data shows
- 22.1% of Americans, about 67.6M people, live more than a mile (urban) or ten miles (rural) from a supermarket.
- 9,228 census tracts (6.1% of the population) are USDA food deserts: low-access and low-income together.
- 12.1% of U.S. households receive SNAP, and 8.2% have no vehicle, the access gap is as much about transport as distance.
- Every figure here is rendered directly from the USDA Atlas and Census ACS, search any of 3,144 counties to see the local picture.
USDA food-access figures reflect the 2019 Atlas (2010 tract populations); SNAP, poverty, and vehicle context is the Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas (2019 edition), 9,228 of 71,700 U.S. census tracts, about 12.9%, meet the food-desert threshold of being both low-income and low-access. Socioeconomic context, including SNAP participation and vehicle access, comes from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, released in December 2025. Every figure on this site is rendered directly from those two datasets; see our methodology for the full pipeline.
Food access guides
Understanding Food Access Data
What every indicator here measures, low-access share, food-desert tracts, SNAP, vehicle access, and the dataset behind each.
What Are Food Deserts?
USDA criteria for low-access areas, urban vs. rural thresholds, and how food deserts connect to health.
Food Security by County
Geographic patterns, which counties face the biggest challenges, and what drives disparities across the U.S.
How Food Deserts Affect Health
Research on diet-related disease and what the geographic patterns reveal.
Transportation Barriers
Why no-vehicle households turn distance into a real barrier to food access.
SNAP Benefits Explained
How the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program works and who qualifies.
About this data
How PlainFoodAccess works, and why you can trust these numbers
What this site is
PlainFoodAccess is an independent county-level atlas for U.S. food access. We join the USDA Food Access Research Atlas with Census ACS household indicators so every county page shows low-access share, food-desert tracts, SNAP participation, poverty, and vehicle access, each figure traceable to the federal row it came from.
Editorial process
- Source. Pull county and tract indicators from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019 edition) and the Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates.
- Verify. Render each county and state page directly from the database extract, with methodology and CSV downloads that match the on-page numbers.
- Publish. Refresh the extract when USDA or Census releases a new vintage, stamp the data-as-of date on every page, and log corrections on the methodology page.
Editorial independence & corrections
PlainFoodAccess accepts no payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from retailers or agencies. Found an error or a stale county row? File a correction via the contact page - we respond within 72 hours and publish fixes with a visible note. See our methodology for attribution and refresh cadence.
Frequently asked
What is a food desert?
A food desert is a census tract that is both low-access (residents live more than 1 mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than 10 miles in rural areas) and low-income. The USDA designates them in its Food Access Research Atlas.
How many people live in food deserts in the United States?
About 18.7M low-income Americans live in USDA food-desert tracts, and roughly 67.6M live in low-access areas overall, per the 2019 Food Access Research Atlas.
What is SNAP?
SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps) is the largest federal nutrition-assistance program, providing food benefits to low-income households.