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

Indiana ranks #7 of 50 and sits in the upper third by population-weighted low-access (28.7%), per USDA FARA 2019.

What share of Indiana has low food access?

28.7% of Indiana residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (+6.6 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in Indiana?

291 census tracts in Indiana are USDA food deserts (~561K low-income low-access residents); ~3.16 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Indiana?

Across Indiana, 9.0% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (-3.1 pts vs U.S.) - low tercile among states.

Which county in Indiana has the worst food access?

Hendricks County has the highest low-access share at 51.5% (~4.0% of statewide low-access residents), with 3.3% SNAP.

Signature · 28.7% low-access (#7 of 50)

Food access in Indiana

Indiana sits in the upper third nationally on low-access (28.7%, +6.6 pts vs U.S.), with USDA FARA 2019 + ACS 2024 context for 92 counties.

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

28.7%
low-access pop.: 291
food-desert tracts: 9.0%
on SNAP: 92
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State IN · Indiana

LA-ELEVATED · ABOVE-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-LIGHT · VEH-OK · BOOK-MID

LA-ELEVATED 28.7% low-access
ABOVE-NATIONAL +6.6 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 291 food-desert tracts
SNAP-LIGHT 9.0% SNAP
VEH-OK 6.2% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 92 counties

Nearest low-access peer: South Carolina (+ 0.0 pts)

Indiana's thick county book (92)

Indiana covers 92 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

Indiana vs all states by county count

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

92 12th of 51 higher than 39 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

Upper-band statewide picture

According to USDA FARA, Indiana is in the upper third on low-access (28.7%, #7 of 50; ~1.9M residents) - +6.6 pts vs the U.S. mean.

#7
among states by low-access: 1.9M
low-access residents: 561K
food-desert residents: 6.2%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares (not a county average). Upper-band states often pair elevated low-access with clustered LILA tracts.

Indiana on the national low-access cartogram

Indiana ringed at #7 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: 28.7% low-access (#7 of 50) (+6.6 pts vs U.S. low-access).

Indiana sits in the upper third of states by population-weighted low-access share (28.7% , #7 of 50). The Atlas marks 291 food-desert tracts here (561K low-income low-access residents). Hendricks County alone holds about 4.0% of the state's low-access residents. County book is thick (92 units) so statewide averages mask more local spread.

States near Indiana's elevated low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for Indiana. 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 (28.7% here).

South Carolina · 28.7% low-access
North Dakota · 28.9% low-access
South Dakota · 29.1% low-access
Massachusetts · 27.8% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (9.0% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

New Jersey · 9.1% SNAP
Virginia · 8.9% SNAP
Iowa · 8.8% SNAP
Colorado · 8.5% SNAP

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

NM

31.7
SD

29.1
ND

28.9
IN

28.7
SC

28.7
MA

27.8
DC

4.6

Hendricks

51.5
Hamilton

51.3
Porter

40.4
Tippecanoe

40.2
Vigo

38.8
Warrick

38.6
Vanderburgh

37.9
Allen

37.8

All counties in Indiana

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Hendricks County	183K	51.5%	3.3%	3.3%	5.3%
Hamilton County	365K	51.3%	2.5%	2.4%	4.4%
Porter County	175K	40.4%	5.6%	3.4%	9.6%
Tippecanoe County	189K	40.2%	7.2%	9.7%	19.2%
Vigo County	106K	38.8%	13.5%	7.9%	19.2%
Warrick County	65K	38.6%	3.6%	3.0%	7.0%
Vanderburgh County	180K	37.9%	11.2%	8.0%	14.3%
Allen County	392K	37.8%	9.1%	6.8%	12.5%
Bartholomew County	84K	36.4%	7.4%	5.2%	10.5%
Hancock County	84K	36.1%	4.5%	3.0%	4.7%
Madison County	132K	35.4%	13.8%	6.1%	13.4%
Lake County	500K	34.4%	12.9%	7.2%	14.3%
Wayne County	66K	34.4%	15.1%	8.9%	17.9%
Dearborn County	51K	34.2%	7.7%	4.1%	7.6%
Delaware County	112K	34.0%	14.2%	7.2%	19.6%
Wells County	28K	33.2%	5.8%	4.1%	7.2%
Jackson County	47K	33.0%	8.7%	5.7%	12.3%
Marion County	976K	32.6%	12.5%	8.3%	15.3%
St. Joseph County	273K	31.8%	9.8%	6.7%	14.2%
Elkhart County	207K	31.7%	7.0%	7.8%	12.4%
Posey County	25K	31.6%	7.0%	3.1%	10.1%
Johnson County	166K	31.4%	6.5%	3.3%	7.4%
Steuben County	35K	30.9%	7.1%	5.4%	9.3%
DeKalb County	44K	29.0%	6.3%	5.8%	9.5%
Morgan County	73K	28.7%	7.8%	3.6%	9.3%
Perry County	19K	28.6%	10.3%	5.5%	15.0%
Huntington County	37K	27.3%	11.0%	4.7%	9.9%
Howard County	84K	27.0%	11.4%	7.3%	13.4%
Jennings County	28K	25.2%	8.0%	5.5%	12.6%
Jay County	20K	24.4%	9.7%	8.2%	14.4%
Floyd County	81K	24.0%	7.6%	5.8%	10.3%
LaPorte County	112K	24.0%	9.9%	4.8%	13.6%
Tipton County	15K	22.4%	6.7%	2.4%	11.2%
Clay County	26K	21.3%	7.8%	4.2%	11.7%
Dubois County	44K	19.8%	4.2%	4.2%	11.0%
Fayette County	23K	19.6%	14.1%	7.3%	17.9%
Kosciusko County	80K	19.5%	5.2%	5.5%	9.8%
Clark County	124K	19.3%	7.7%	5.0%	10.2%
Miami County	36K	19.0%	11.6%	5.1%	15.1%
Parke County	16K	18.9%	12.7%	8.5%	16.2%
Monroe County	141K	18.3%	6.0%	8.4%	19.7%
Henry County	49K	18.2%	10.1%	5.7%	13.6%
Wabash County	31K	18.2%	7.1%	4.5%	11.1%
Scott County	25K	18.0%	14.2%	3.5%	16.6%
Boone County	75K	17.9%	3.7%	2.4%	4.5%
Randolph County	24K	17.6%	15.0%	6.6%	15.8%
Adams County	36K	17.5%	6.6%	13.1%	11.2%
Grant County	66K	17.2%	13.8%	6.4%	19.8%
Shelby County	45K	16.6%	8.1%	5.4%	13.0%
Sullivan County	21K	15.9%	11.0%	4.9%	13.9%
Crawford County	10K	15.6%	11.7%	5.2%	22.9%
Blackford County	12K	15.2%	14.6%	9.5%	16.2%
Marshall County	46K	14.9%	6.4%	6.6%	11.7%
Newton County	14K	14.6%	8.5%	3.0%	14.0%
Greene County	31K	14.2%	10.7%	6.2%	12.8%
Decatur County	26K	13.9%	5.6%	3.2%	10.2%
Jasper County	33K	13.6%	5.4%	2.3%	8.4%
Rush County	17K	13.0%	10.0%	5.2%	11.9%
Putnam County	37K	11.9%	8.1%	3.5%	8.7%
Fulton County	20K	10.9%	12.4%	6.0%	15.3%
Martin County	10K	10.6%	7.3%	4.5%	16.3%
Montgomery County	38K	10.4%	9.2%	5.6%	10.5%
Pulaski County	12K	9.5%	8.1%	6.0%	12.1%
Washington County	28K	9.2%	11.0%	4.3%	14.4%
Noble County	47K	9.1%	5.1%	10.1%	9.2%
Knox County	36K	8.6%	12.9%	7.5%	13.7%
Fountain County	17K	8.4%	8.8%	3.2%	12.4%
Jefferson County	33K	8.3%	10.0%	3.4%	12.3%
Franklin County	23K	7.4%	4.6%	6.5%	6.9%
Lawrence County	45K	7.2%	8.3%	4.8%	12.2%
Daviess County	34K	6.4%	10.3%	13.6%	11.7%
Warren County	8K	6.4%	7.4%	2.1%	11.0%
Cass County	38K	6.3%	9.4%	5.0%	13.2%
LaGrange County	41K	5.2%	4.6%	29.2%	5.9%
Clinton County	33K	4.8%	6.9%	4.1%	9.8%
Vermillion County	15K	4.7%	11.5%	5.1%	15.3%
Gibson County	33K	4.6%	8.2%	4.0%	10.8%
Switzerland County	10K	4.6%	13.0%	6.5%	12.6%
Whitley County	35K	4.5%	6.5%	3.9%	9.9%
Ripley County	29K	4.3%	7.3%	4.4%	10.1%
Brown County	16K	3.0%	4.9%	3.5%	7.8%
Pike County	12K	2.6%	9.5%	4.2%	10.7%
Starke County	23K	2.0%	12.5%	6.6%	13.4%
White County	25K	2.0%	6.2%	3.2%	10.2%
Carroll County	21K	1.9%	5.2%	4.6%	8.8%
Benton County	9K	1.7%	11.7%	4.8%	13.9%
Orange County	20K	1.1%	11.5%	6.7%	13.4%
Owen County	22K	0.7%	9.7%	3.1%	12.3%
Spencer County	20K	0.1%	6.7%	2.7%	7.5%
Harrison County	40K	0.0%	6.0%	4.0%	7.2%
Ohio County	6K	0.0%	3.4%	5.3%	8.1%
Union County	7K	0.0%	6.2%	4.4%	8.5%

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 Indiana 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.