State food-access profile · 16 counties

Food access in Maine

How far Maine 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).

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · June 23, 2026

13.4%
low-access pop.: 30
food-desert tracts: 12.0%
on SNAP: 16
counties

The statewide picture

About 178K Maine residents - 13.4% - live in a low-access area, and 30 census tracts across the state are USDA-designated food deserts.

178K
low-access residents: 47K
food-desert residents: 6.8%
households, no vehicle: 10.8%
below poverty line

Shares are population-weighted across the state's tracts, not an average of county percentages. Low access = >1 mile (urban) / >10 miles (rural) from a supermarket.

Where Maine stands nationally

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

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 Maine 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 16 counties and 1.4M residents, Maine's population-weighted low-access share is 13.4%.

A tract becomes a food desert only when its low-access residents are also low-income. That applies to 30 tracts in Maine, home to roughly 47K low-income, low-access residents. SNAP participation across the state averages 12.0% of households, and 6.8% 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.

Counties

13.4%

Low-access (pop-weighted)

178K

Low-access residents

12.0%

Avg. SNAP

Cumberland

21
York

17.3
Penobscot

15.7
Oxford

15.1
Franklin

12.9
Waldo

11.3
Washington

11.1
Aroostook

10.9

All counties in Maine

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Cumberland County	309K	21.0%	7.5%	6.9%	7.3%
York County	217K	17.3%	8.1%	4.7%	7.7%
Penobscot County	155K	15.7%	15.6%	8.1%	14.1%
Oxford County	59K	15.1%	15.7%	6.9%	13.8%
Franklin County	30K	12.9%	15.4%	9.2%	12.2%
Waldo County	40K	11.3%	12.5%	5.8%	12.0%
Washington County	31K	11.1%	18.8%	6.1%	17.1%
Aroostook County	67K	10.9%	20.7%	8.6%	14.4%
Sagadahoc County	37K	10.7%	8.7%	5.1%	10.0%
Somerset County	51K	9.3%	17.7%	5.8%	14.2%
Androscoggin County	113K	9.2%	16.8%	9.4%	14.4%
Knox County	41K	8.0%	8.5%	5.4%	8.2%
Kennebec County	127K	5.2%	13.6%	7.5%	11.6%
Piscataquis County	17K	4.5%	17.9%	4.9%	15.5%
Hancock County	56K	4.0%	8.4%	6.2%	9.9%
Lincoln County	36K	2.6%	7.9%	4.5%	7.9%

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.

What this means for the state

13.4% of Maine residents, about 178K people, live in a low-access area.
30 census tracts are USDA food deserts, home to roughly 47K low-income, low-access residents.
12.0% of households receive SNAP, and 6.8% have no vehicle.
Cumberland County has the state's highest low-access share at 21.0%.

USDA low-access figures reflect the 2019 Atlas (2010 tract populations); SNAP, poverty, and vehicle context is the Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What share of Maine has low food access?▼

13.4% of Maine residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted across the state's tracts), per the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019).

How many food deserts are in Maine?▼

30 census tracts in Maine are USDA-designated food deserts, both low-access and low-income, home to roughly 47K low-income residents.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Maine?▼

Across Maine counties, an average of 12.0% of households receive SNAP (Census ACS 2024), though rates vary between urban and rural areas.

Which county in Maine has the worst food access?▼

Cumberland County has the highest low-access share in Maine at 21.0%, with 7.5% SNAP participation.

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 2026-06-23 (most recent source-data vintage).

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