Where does California rank for food access among U.S. states?

California ranks #47 of 50 in the lower third on low-access (13.3%), same basis as the national cartogram.

What share of California has low food access?

13.3% of California residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (-8.8 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in California?

536 census tracts in California are USDA food deserts (~1.2M low-income low-access residents); ~9.24 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in California?

Across California, 12.6% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (+0.5 pts vs U.S.) - mid tercile among states.

Which county in California has the worst food access?

Sierra County has the highest low-access share at 88.2% (~0.1% of statewide low-access residents), with 9.8% SNAP.

Signature · 536 LILA tracts (9.24/county)

Food access in California

California lands in the lower third on population-weighted low-access (13.3%), so distance is less binding statewide than in the upper band - county pages still show local pockets.

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · December 31, 2024

13.3%
low-access pop.: 536
food-desert tracts: 12.6%
on SNAP: 58
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State CA · California

LA-MODERATE · BELOW-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-TYPICAL · VEH-OK · BOOK-MID

LA-MODERATE 13.3% low-access
BELOW-NATIONAL -8.8 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 536 food-desert tracts
SNAP-TYPICAL 12.6% SNAP
VEH-OK 6.9% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 58 counties

Nearest low-access peer: Maine (+ 0.1 pts)

Where California sits by county inventory

California covers 58 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

California vs all states by county count

Where this state's county inventory sits among every tracked jurisdiction

58 27th of 51 higher than 24 of 51 states

Jurisdictions, banded by county inventory

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USDA Food Access Research Atlas / Census county inventory · 2026-06-23

Lower-band statewide picture

California stays in the lower third nationally (13.3%, #47 of 50) with ~5.0M low-access residents and 536 LILA tracts.

#47
among states by low-access: 5.0M
low-access residents: 1.2M
food-desert residents: 6.9%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares. Lower-band statewide means still leave county outliers on the table below.

California among lower low-access states

California ringed at #47 of 50 by population-weighted low-access. Click any state to compare.

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

Signature read: 536 LILA tracts (9.24/county) .

California lands in the lower third of states on population-weighted low-access (13.3% , #47 of 50). Distance is less binding statewide than in the upper band, yet Sierra County still reaches 88.2% locally while SNAP sits at 12.6% .

States near California's lower low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for California. Neighbourhood chart below is local poles; these panels are full-corpus nearest neighbours excluding this state.

Similar low-access share

Nearest population-weighted low-access rates (13.3% here).

Maine · 13.4% low-access
New York · 12.0% low-access
Vermont · 11.2% low-access
Oregon · 16.9% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (12.6% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Nevada · 12.7% SNAP
North Carolina · 12.7% SNAP
Florida · 12.8% SNAP
Ohio · 12.3% SNAP

Source: USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + Census ACS 2024 SNAP. Floor county_count ≥ 5.

NM

31.7
OR

16.9
ME

13.4
CA

13.3
NY

12
VT

11.2
DC

4.6

Sierra

88.2
Mono

57.1
Alpine

57
Modoc

40.5
Colusa

39.3
Nevada

34.8
Del Norte

34.4
Kings

33

All counties in California

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Sierra County	3K	88.2%	9.8%	6.5%	4.4%
Mono County	13K	57.1%	4.6%	4.1%	8.6%
Alpine County	2K	57.0%	9.7%	5.7%	10.0%
Modoc County	9K	40.5%	14.0%	4.7%	17.9%
Colusa County	22K	39.3%	16.4%	4.6%	11.4%
Nevada County	102K	34.8%	8.1%	4.2%	11.0%
Del Norte County	27K	34.4%	22.8%	8.2%	12.9%
Kings County	153K	33.0%	20.0%	5.8%	16.0%
Lassen County	30K	31.9%	13.4%	6.3%	14.0%
Placer County	419K	31.9%	5.7%	4.2%	6.8%
Inyo County	19K	28.9%	8.5%	5.5%	10.9%
Siskiyou County	43K	28.6%	15.5%	6.1%	16.4%
Tuolumne County	54K	27.8%	11.7%	5.2%	10.4%
Sutter County	99K	26.5%	13.2%	5.5%	14.4%
El Dorado County	193K	25.2%	6.5%	3.6%	8.0%
San Bernardino County	2.2M	24.7%	15.8%	4.6%	13.3%
Riverside County	2.5M	24.5%	12.5%	4.3%	10.6%
Kern County	915K	23.8%	20.2%	6.7%	19.1%
Glenn County	28K	23.4%	14.7%	4.3%	16.0%
Contra Costa County	1.2M	23.2%	8.5%	5.2%	8.4%
Santa Cruz County	265K	22.6%	9.9%	5.2%	11.6%
Solano County	452K	21.7%	11.4%	4.9%	10.0%
Yuba County	85K	21.5%	19.3%	6.4%	14.2%
Shasta County	181K	20.3%	13.4%	6.3%	13.3%
Butte County	208K	19.1%	16.0%	6.0%	19.2%
Tehama County	65K	19.1%	13.9%	6.1%	15.6%
Merced County	290K	18.9%	21.0%	7.3%	19.1%
San Luis Obispo County	282K	18.6%	8.2%	3.8%	12.9%
San Benito County	67K	17.9%	10.5%	3.0%	6.7%
Imperial County	180K	17.6%	28.7%	6.1%	19.5%
Trinity County	16K	17.6%	11.1%	5.5%	20.7%
Sacramento County	1.6M	16.8%	14.2%	6.6%	12.5%
Monterey County	438K	16.6%	9.6%	4.7%	12.7%
San Diego County	3.3M	14.9%	9.9%	5.5%	10.3%
Ventura County	837K	14.9%	8.5%	4.1%	9.3%
Calaveras County	46K	14.7%	9.5%	2.3%	13.0%
Madera County	161K	14.5%	21.7%	5.0%	19.2%
Mendocino County	90K	14.5%	17.4%	7.3%	15.4%
San Joaquin County	797K	14.4%	15.6%	5.1%	12.4%
Yolo County	221K	13.7%	13.1%	7.6%	16.7%
Fresno County	1.0M	13.3%	21.8%	7.0%	18.3%
Sonoma County	485K	13.3%	8.0%	4.8%	8.9%
Santa Barbara County	444K	12.2%	10.9%	5.9%	14.7%
Napa County	135K	12.1%	6.9%	4.8%	8.5%
Marin County	258K	11.9%	5.5%	4.9%	8.3%
Humboldt County	135K	11.2%	21.0%	6.1%	18.7%
Tulare County	479K	11.2%	24.1%	4.5%	17.9%
San Mateo County	742K	10.5%	5.1%	5.8%	6.7%
Stanislaus County	554K	9.7%	15.5%	5.6%	13.5%
Orange County	3.2M	8.7%	8.5%	4.8%	9.5%
Santa Clara County	1.9M	8.5%	6.6%	6.0%	7.1%
Alameda County	1.6M	8.1%	9.9%	10.0%	9.2%
Mariposa County	17K	8.1%	13.4%	4.6%	14.0%
Los Angeles County	9.8M	6.5%	14.4%	8.9%	13.7%
Plumas County	19K	6.3%	13.5%	6.6%	10.6%
Lake County	68K	4.2%	24.3%	5.6%	17.0%
San Francisco County	830K	0.6%	11.4%	30.2%	11.2%
Amador County	41K	0.2%	9.8%	4.0%	8.2%

Source: USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2024 5-year). Sorted by low-access share, highest first.

Figures from USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and Census ACS 2024 5-year. Compiled 2026-06-23. Methodology · All states.

PlainFoodAccess renders this state summary directly from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates), no number is typed in by an editor. Statewide figures for California are population-weighted aggregates of county Atlas and ACS records. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-06-23. Primary sources: USDA Food Access Research Atlas and Census ACS 5-year estimates.