PlainFoodAccess

County comparison tool

Compare any two U.S. counties

Put two counties side by side on USDA low-access share, food-desert tracts, SNAP participation, poverty, and vehicle access, sourced from the Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and the Census ACS (2024).

3,144
counties to compare
22.1%
U.S. average low-access
9,228
food-desert tracts

Why compare

Low-access share ranges from 0% in dense urban counties to 100% in the most remote rural ones, comparing two counties side by side is the fastest way to see where, and how far, that gap runs.

0–100%
low-access range across counties
22.1%
national average
12.1%
households on SNAP, U.S.

Start typing a county name - 3,144 U.S. counties are available.

What you'll compare

Low-access share
Share of residents living far from a supermarket, the USDA distance measure (1 mi urban / 10 mi rural).
Food-desert tracts
Census tracts that are both low-access and low-income, the official food-desert designation.
SNAP participation
Share of households receiving SNAP, from the Census ACS, a practical read on economic food access.
Vehicle & poverty
No-vehicle household share and the poverty rate, the context that turns distance into a real barrier.

The national map

Each state colored by its population-weighted low-access share. Any two counties you compare sit inside these states, click one to start.

AK 31 ME 13 VT 11 NH 28 WA 23 ID 26 MT 22 ND 29 MN 27 IL 20 WI 21 MI 23 NY 12 RI 24 MA 28 OR 17 NV 23 WY 30 SD 29 IA 20 IN 29 OH 25 PA 21 NJ 24 CT - CA 13 UT 24 CO 22 NE 22 MO 25 KY 20 WV 21 VA 20 MD 23 DE 27 AZ 27 NM 32 KS 26 AR 25 TN 27 NC 23 SC 29 DC 5 OK 25 LA 26 MS 26 AL 25 GA 31 HI 27 TX 25 FL 25

USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas (2019), population-weighted · Census ACS 2024 context

The national backdrop

Every comparison sits against this: all 71,700 U.S. census tracts by food-access tier. The two counties you pick fall somewhere along this spectrum.

Food access tier distribution for all U.S. census tracts USDA-defined food-access tiers: 44539 census tracts adequate (within distance threshold), 17933 limited, 9228 severe (low-income low-access food desert). Total 71700 tracts evaluated. 44,539 tracts adequate (62.1%) 17,933 tracts limited (25.0%) 9,228 tracts severe / food desert (12.9%) Adequate 62% Limited 25% Severe 13% Food-access tier distribution: all U.S. census tracts
Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas 2019

See the gap: rural vs. urban

Each pair contrasts one of the worst rural food deserts with a well-served large urban county, where supermarkets are everywhere.

Nye County, NV vs New York County, NY
87.1% vs 0.0% low-access
Palo Pinto County, TX vs Kings County, NY
68.1% vs 0.0% low-access
Coryell County, TX vs Queens County, NY
63.7% vs 0.6% low-access
Pulaski County, MO vs Bronx County, NY
63.3% vs 0.6% low-access

Looking for the extremes first? See the worst food deserts and highest-SNAP counties, or browse by state.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas (2019 edition), 9,228 of roughly 71,700 U.S. census tracts meet the food-desert threshold. Every figure compared here is rendered directly from that data joined to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, released in December 2025; see our methodology.

Data current as of (most recent source-data vintage).