PlainFoodAccess

State food-access profile · 9 counties

Food access in Connecticut

How far Connecticut residents live from a supermarket, where the food deserts are, and the SNAP, poverty, and vehicle-access context, from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and the Census ACS (2024).

11.8%
on SNAP
9
counties

Where Connecticut stands nationally

Every state colored by its population-weighted low-access share, Connecticut is ringed. Click any state to compare.

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 USDA Food Access Research Atlas evaluates every census tract in Connecticut against the same rule used nationwide: a tract is low-access when many residents live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than ten miles in rural areas. Across 9 counties and 3.6M residents, Connecticut's population-weighted low-access share is reported county by county below.

A tract becomes a food desert only when its low-access residents are also low-income. The 2019 Atlas flags relatively few full food-desert tracts in Connecticut. SNAP participation across the state averages 11.8% of households, and 8.8% of households have no vehicle, the transport gap that turns distance into a real barrier. The county table below is sorted with the highest low-access share first, so the top rows are where distance, income, and vehicle gaps most consistently overlap.

9
Counties
N/A
Low-access (pop-weighted)
0
Low-access residents
11.8%
Avg. SNAP

All counties in Connecticut

County Low-accessSNAP
Capitol Planning Region N/A 13.1%
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region N/A 14.2%
Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region N/A 6.8%
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region N/A 14.5%
Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region N/A 10.9%
Northwest Hills Planning Region N/A 8.6%
South Central Connecticut Planning Region N/A 13.5%
Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region N/A 12.4%
Western Connecticut Planning Region N/A 7.0%

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What share of Connecticut has low food access?▼
Food-access figures are reported county by county for Connecticut.
How many food deserts are in Connecticut?▼
0 census tracts in Connecticut are USDA-designated food deserts, both low-access and low-income, home to roughly 0 low-income residents.
What is the SNAP participation rate in Connecticut?▼
Across Connecticut counties, an average of 11.8% of households receive SNAP (Census ACS 2024), though rates vary between urban and rural areas.
Which county in Connecticut has the worst food access?▼
Visit individual county pages for details.

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 low-income, low-access food-desert threshold. The state and county figures on this page are aggregated from that tract-level data and joined to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, released in December 2025. See our methodology for how the population-weighted shares are computed.

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

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