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

Nebraska ranks #36 of 50 in the lower third on low-access (21.9%), same basis as the national cartogram.

What share of Nebraska has low food access?

21.9% of Nebraska residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (-0.2 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in Nebraska?

55 census tracts in Nebraska are USDA food deserts (~103K low-income low-access residents); ~0.59 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Nebraska?

Across Nebraska, 8.1% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (-4 pts vs U.S.) - low tercile among states.

Which county in Nebraska has the worst food access?

Arthur County has the highest low-access share at 100.0% (~0.1% of statewide low-access residents), with 5.9% SNAP.

Signature · 8.1% SNAP (17th pct among states)

Food access in Nebraska

Nebraska lands in the lower third on population-weighted low-access (21.9%), 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

21.9%
low-access pop.: 55
food-desert tracts: 8.1%
on SNAP: 93
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State NE · Nebraska

LA-ELEVATED · PHOTO-FINISH · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-LIGHT · VEH-OK · BOOK-MID

LA-ELEVATED 21.9% low-access
PHOTO-FINISH -0.2 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 55 food-desert tracts
SNAP-LIGHT 8.1% SNAP
VEH-OK 5.4% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 93 counties

Nearest low-access peer: Colorado ( -0.4 pts)

Nebraska's thick county book (93)

Nebraska covers 93 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

Nebraska vs all states by county count

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

93 11th of 51 higher than 40 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

Nebraska stays in the lower third nationally (21.9%, #36 of 50) with ~400K low-access residents and 55 LILA tracts.

#36
among states by low-access: 400K
low-access residents: 103K
food-desert residents: 5.4%
households, no vehicle

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

Nebraska among lower low-access states

Nebraska ringed at #36 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: 8.1% SNAP (17th pct among states) (-4 pts vs U.S. SNAP) .

Nebraska lands in the lower third of states on population-weighted low-access (21.9% , #36 of 50). Distance is less binding statewide than in the upper band, yet Arthur County still reaches 100.0% locally while SNAP sits at 8.1% .

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

SNAP-led peer set first for Nebraska (8.1%), with low-access neighbours deduped against it.

Similar low-access share

Nearest population-weighted low-access rates (21.9% here).

Colorado · 21.5% low-access
Montana · 22.3% low-access
Pennsylvania · 21.4% low-access
Wisconsin · 21.4% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (8.1% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Minnesota · 7.8% SNAP
South Dakota · 8.4% SNAP
Idaho · 7.7% SNAP
Iowa · 8.8% SNAP

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

NM

31.7
MT

22.3
NE

21.9
CO

21.5
PA

21.4
WI

21.4
DC

4.6

Arthur

100
Blaine

100
Hayes

100
Hooker

100
McPherson

100
Thomas

100
Keya Paha

99.9
Banner

98.5

All counties in Nebraska

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Arthur County	484	100.0%	5.9%	4.3%	7.2%
Blaine County	422	100.0%	N/A	2.5%	9.0%
Hayes County	843	100.0%	5.0%	3.2%	12.7%
Hooker County	647	100.0%	0.3%	6.1%	6.2%
McPherson County	475	100.0%	0.9%	7.1%	12.2%
Thomas County	564	100.0%	4.3%	4.6%	8.9%
Keya Paha County	822	99.9%	1.3%	1.3%	7.2%
Banner County	742	98.5%	1.3%	1.0%	7.7%
Hitchcock County	3K	95.0%	7.4%	4.0%	12.8%
Wheeler County	847	89.1%	2.8%	3.6%	5.2%
Otoe County	16K	71.8%	6.0%	3.0%	9.1%
Greeley County	2K	66.1%	6.1%	2.2%	13.1%
Gosper County	2K	64.1%	7.4%	1.0%	10.3%
Sioux County	1K	63.7%	2.2%	5.9%	14.9%
Red Willow County	11K	58.2%	9.2%	9.3%	14.0%
Webster County	3K	52.4%	9.5%	3.3%	9.6%
Morrill County	5K	50.3%	11.6%	4.6%	13.9%
Franklin County	3K	47.0%	6.6%	2.1%	12.3%
Pierce County	7K	46.5%	7.4%	3.2%	7.6%
Custer County	11K	44.6%	7.8%	4.2%	7.1%
Dawson County	24K	41.3%	6.2%	5.2%	10.8%
Grant County	626	41.0%	2.1%	3.9%	12.2%
Loup County	578	39.9%	6.1%	1.6%	6.9%
Cherry County	5K	38.8%	4.4%	7.5%	8.3%
Garden County	2K	37.9%	11.1%	2.1%	16.5%
Frontier County	3K	37.8%	11.5%	2.0%	11.4%
Nuckolls County	4K	37.3%	5.7%	2.9%	5.7%
Sarpy County	197K	36.7%	4.7%	3.0%	5.6%
Boyd County	2K	36.3%	6.9%	0.8%	9.7%
Adams County	31K	35.0%	9.1%	4.6%	12.7%
Dixon County	6K	33.9%	7.9%	1.6%	7.3%
Dundy County	2K	33.3%	8.0%	4.6%	14.0%
Box Butte County	11K	32.6%	7.1%	6.4%	10.8%
Gage County	22K	32.4%	10.9%	8.3%	12.6%
Seward County	18K	32.4%	5.4%	4.3%	7.4%
Saline County	15K	32.2%	4.5%	3.2%	8.9%
Sheridan County	5K	32.0%	10.2%	3.7%	11.3%
Colfax County	11K	31.6%	8.9%	0.4%	6.9%
Merrick County	8K	31.6%	5.7%	1.9%	7.9%
Buffalo County	51K	30.7%	6.5%	4.5%	9.9%
Knox County	8K	30.7%	7.4%	4.6%	13.7%
Richardson County	8K	30.7%	7.5%	8.0%	10.5%
Holt County	10K	29.8%	8.3%	3.8%	11.7%
Jefferson County	7K	29.8%	12.5%	7.6%	10.1%
Madison County	36K	29.6%	8.5%	6.9%	13.1%
Perkins County	3K	29.6%	5.1%	2.6%	7.2%
Chase County	4K	29.4%	4.7%	1.8%	7.5%
Dawes County	8K	29.0%	10.0%	4.0%	13.1%
Dodge County	37K	28.2%	8.2%	3.9%	11.0%
Rock County	1K	28.0%	5.3%	5.8%	10.8%
Keith County	8K	27.6%	8.9%	5.6%	10.4%
Hall County	63K	27.1%	10.4%	6.6%	14.1%
Deuel County	2K	26.8%	8.4%	3.3%	9.4%
Johnson County	5K	26.2%	11.9%	7.4%	9.7%
Clay County	6K	24.7%	6.1%	4.7%	6.9%
Saunders County	23K	24.5%	4.6%	4.4%	6.3%
Phelps County	9K	22.3%	9.9%	6.2%	12.2%
Cuming County	9K	22.2%	2.5%	3.5%	6.7%
Fillmore County	6K	22.2%	5.9%	2.8%	8.8%
Cheyenne County	10K	21.5%	12.3%	4.3%	14.3%
Washington County	21K	20.4%	4.7%	3.0%	6.4%
Sherman County	3K	20.2%	5.2%	6.9%	8.6%
Howard County	7K	20.1%	6.7%	3.0%	4.8%
York County	14K	19.7%	7.4%	6.4%	9.2%
Platte County	35K	19.2%	7.1%	5.1%	9.8%
Thayer County	5K	18.8%	7.2%	3.4%	9.0%
Cass County	27K	18.4%	4.3%	3.4%	5.2%
Cedar County	8K	18.3%	5.4%	1.7%	7.1%
Pawnee County	3K	18.1%	5.9%	5.8%	13.5%
Hamilton County	9K	17.3%	4.8%	1.4%	5.2%
Lancaster County	327K	17.0%	8.4%	6.2%	11.9%
Dakota County	21K	16.2%	10.0%	4.5%	11.5%
Butler County	8K	15.5%	5.8%	4.0%	9.7%
Lincoln County	34K	14.4%	11.6%	4.1%	12.4%
Logan County	773	14.0%	2.0%	N/A	5.6%
Antelope County	6K	12.9%	4.7%	4.1%	9.2%
Boone County	5K	12.3%	3.9%	2.8%	9.6%
Douglas County	591K	11.9%	9.5%	6.8%	11.8%
Valley County	4K	11.5%	9.8%	3.5%	9.3%
Brown County	3K	10.1%	6.0%	4.7%	13.4%
Garfield County	2K	10.1%	5.0%	6.1%	8.8%
Wayne County	10K	9.0%	6.8%	5.5%	13.2%
Scotts Bluff County	36K	7.7%	11.9%	7.0%	12.9%
Stanton County	6K	7.5%	4.8%	1.6%	9.4%
Harlan County	3K	6.9%	5.3%	1.1%	6.7%
Kimball County	3K	6.8%	11.3%	3.8%	12.2%
Polk County	5K	4.8%	4.9%	2.1%	7.9%
Nance County	3K	4.6%	6.9%	2.2%	16.6%
Furnas County	5K	4.1%	5.1%	4.2%	13.0%
Nemaha County	7K	4.0%	13.3%	4.8%	13.3%
Thurston County	7K	3.3%	14.7%	5.4%	13.9%
Kearney County	7K	2.5%	3.9%	0.9%	7.2%
Burt County	7K	0.7%	10.3%	5.8%	13.2%

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 Nebraska 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.