Food Access Rankings

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service's Food Access Research Atlas (2019 release), more than 18.7M Americans live in a census tract the USDA designates a food desert (both low-income and low-access) where supermarkets are more than 1 mile away (urban) or 10 miles away (rural). PlainFoodAccess ranks U.S. counties by both food-desert prevalence and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) participation rates. Underlying tract-level data comes from the USDA ERS Atlas; county-level population, income, vehicle availability, and SNAP household counts come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates.

The USDA tract-level methodology defines a low-access census tract as one where a substantial share of residents lives more than 1 mile from a supermarket (in urban areas) or more than 10 miles (in rural areas). The food desert designation overlays low-access with low-income status (poverty rate ≥20% or median family income ≤80% of the area median). Rankings refresh annually with the USDA Atlas release cycle and the Census Bureau's ACS 5-year cycle.

See our methodology for full source attribution, the USDA's tract-level classification definitions, and the ACS sample-size thresholds.

Top 10 states by low-food-access population share

State-level low food-access share (% of population)

USDA Food Access Research Atlas, tract data aggregated population-weighted to the state level

% low-access

• New Mexico
  31.7

  New Mexico

  31.7 % low-access

  100.0% of the leader · rank #1

• Alaska
  30.9

  Alaska

  30.9 % low-access

  97.5% of the leader · rank #2

• Georgia
  30.9

  Georgia

  30.9 % low-access

  97.5% of the leader · rank #3

• Wyoming
  29.7

  Wyoming

  29.7 % low-access

  93.7% of the leader · rank #4

• South Dakota
  29.1

  South Dakota

  29.1 % low-access

  91.8% of the leader · rank #5

• North Dakota
  28.9

  North Dakota

  28.9 % low-access

  91.2% of the leader · rank #6

• Indiana
  28.7

  Indiana

  28.7 % low-access

  90.5% of the leader · rank #7

• South Carolina
  28.7

  South Carolina

  28.7 % low-access

  90.5% of the leader · rank #8

• Massachusetts
  27.8

  Massachusetts

  27.8 % low-access

  87.7% of the leader · rank #9

• New Hampshire
  27.5

  New Hampshire

  27.5 % low-access

  86.8% of the leader · rank #10

What this shows The highest population-weighted low-access shares are in New Mexico, Alaska, Georgia, Wyoming, South Dakota. Sparse, rural states rank high because residents live far from supermarkets, not only because of income.

Top 10 states by SNAP household share

State-level SNAP household participation (% of households)

Census ACS 5-year estimates, population-weighted from county SNAP participation

% on SNAP

• New Mexico
  19.6

  New Mexico

  19.6 % on SNAP

  100.0% of the leader · rank #1

• Louisiana
  17.3

  Louisiana

  17.3 % on SNAP

  88.3% of the leader · rank #2

• West Virginia
  17.3

  West Virginia

  17.3 % on SNAP

  88.3% of the leader · rank #3

• Oregon
  16

  Oregon

  16 % on SNAP

  81.6% of the leader · rank #4

• New York
  15.5

  New York

  15.5 % on SNAP

  79.1% of the leader · rank #5

• Massachusetts
  14.6

  Massachusetts

  14.6 % on SNAP

  74.5% of the leader · rank #6

• District of Columbia
  14.3

  District of Columbia

  14.3 % on SNAP

  73.0% of the leader · rank #7

• Pennsylvania
  14.2

  Pennsylvania

  14.2 % on SNAP

  72.4% of the leader · rank #8

• Rhode Island
  14.2

  Rhode Island

  14.2 % on SNAP

  72.4% of the leader · rank #9

• Oklahoma
  14

  Oklahoma

  14 % on SNAP

  71.4% of the leader · rank #10

What this shows SNAP participation is highest in New Mexico, Louisiana, West Virginia, Oregon, New York. That SNAP list is not the low-access list: the two county rankings diverge at #1.

Top 20 worst food-desert counties (preview)

Sorted by tract-level low-income low-access share. Full top-100 list at worst food deserts.

• Nye County, NV - 87.1% low-access
• Palo Pinto County, TX - 68.1% low-access
• Coryell County, TX - 63.7% low-access
• Pulaski County, MO - 63.3% low-access
• Valencia County, NM - 58.8% low-access
• Bristol County, RI - 56.0% low-access
• Forsyth County, GA - 55.9% low-access
• Beauregard Parish County, LA - 55.8% low-access
• Baker County, FL - 55.6% low-access
• Douglas County, WA - 55.5% low-access
• Plaquemines Parish County, LA - 54.9% low-access
• Apache County, AZ - 54.7% low-access
• McKinley County, NM - 54.7% low-access
• Nodaway County, MO - 54.3% low-access
• Putnam County, NY - 53.6% low-access
• Riley County, KS - 53.5% low-access
• Logan County, OK - 53.4% low-access
• Sandoval County, NM - 53.1% low-access
• Carroll County, GA - 53.0% low-access
• Flagler County, FL - 52.0% low-access

Top 20 SNAP-participation counties (preview)

Sorted by SNAP household share. Full top-100 list at most SNAP.

• Kusilvak Census Area County, AK - 51.4% SNAP
• Oglala Lakota County, SD - 49.5% SNAP
• Starr County, TX - 42.5% SNAP
• Bethel Census Area County, AK - 42.4% SNAP
• Guadalupe County, NM - 40.7% SNAP
• Zavala County, TX - 40.6% SNAP
• Todd County, SD - 40.2% SNAP
• Randolph County, GA - 39.4% SNAP
• Bronx County, NY - 38.6% SNAP
• Owsley County, KY - 37.8% SNAP
• McKinley County, NM - 37.7% SNAP
• Magoffin County, KY - 37.2% SNAP
• Wilcox County, AL - 37.0% SNAP
• Sioux County, ND - 36.8% SNAP
• Wolfe County, KY - 36.5% SNAP
• McDowell County, WV - 36.5% SNAP
• Mingo County, WV - 36.5% SNAP
• Dallas County, AL - 36.2% SNAP
• Northwest Arctic Borough County, AK - 35.8% SNAP
• Brooks County, TX - 35.7% SNAP

Download the county food-access extract cited on this page: plainfoodaccess-food-access.csv (USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas + Census ACS · public domain sources).