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

New York ranks #48 of 50 in the lower third on low-access (12.0%), same basis as the national cartogram.

What share of New York has low food access?

12.0% of New York residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (-10.1 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in New York?

194 census tracts in New York are USDA food deserts (~462K low-income low-access residents); ~3.13 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in New York?

Across New York, 15.5% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (+3.4 pts vs U.S.) - high tercile among states.

Which county in New York has the worst food access?

Putnam County has the highest low-access share at 53.6% (~2.3% of statewide low-access residents), with 3.2% SNAP.

Signature · 12.0% low-access (#48 of 50)

Food access in New York

New York lands in the lower third on population-weighted low-access (12.0%), 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

12.0%
low-access pop.: 194
food-desert tracts: 15.5%
on SNAP: 62
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State NY · New York

LA-MODERATE · BELOW-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-HEAVY · VEH-GAP · BOOK-MID

LA-MODERATE 12.0% low-access
BELOW-NATIONAL -10.1 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 194 food-desert tracts
SNAP-HEAVY 15.5% SNAP
VEH-GAP 28.3% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 62 counties

Nearest low-access peer: Vermont ( -0.8 pts)

Where New York sits by county inventory

New York covers 62 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

New York vs all states by county count

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

62 26th of 51 higher than 25 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

New York stays in the lower third nationally (12.0%, #48 of 50) with ~2.3M low-access residents and 194 LILA tracts.

#48
among states by low-access: 2.3M
low-access residents: 462K
food-desert residents: 28.3%
households, no vehicle

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

New York on the national low-access cartogram

New York ringed at #48 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: 12.0% low-access (#48 of 50) (-10.1 pts vs U.S. low-access).

New York lands in the lower third of states on population-weighted low-access (12.0% , #48 of 50). Distance is less binding statewide than in the upper band, yet Putnam County still reaches 53.6% locally while SNAP sits at 15.5% .

States near New York's lower low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for New York. 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 (12.0% here).

Vermont · 11.2% low-access
California · 13.3% low-access
Maine · 13.4% low-access
Oregon · 16.9% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (15.5% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Massachusetts · 14.6% SNAP
Pennsylvania · 14.2% SNAP
Rhode Island · 14.2% SNAP
Oklahoma · 14.0% 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

Putnam

53.6
Hamilton

53.3
Montgomery

37.9
Dutchess

35.9
Otsego

34.2
Monroe

33.9
Orange

33.8
Warren

31.8

All counties in New York

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Putnam County	98K	53.6%	3.2%	4.6%	7.1%
Hamilton County	5K	53.3%	4.9%	3.5%	10.6%
Montgomery County	50K	37.9%	15.4%	11.4%	14.6%
Dutchess County	298K	35.9%	7.9%	7.2%	8.4%
Otsego County	60K	34.2%	9.9%	7.3%	12.5%
Monroe County	754K	33.9%	15.0%	10.8%	13.6%
Orange County	407K	33.8%	10.7%	9.4%	12.6%
Warren County	66K	31.8%	9.8%	7.8%	10.5%
Albany County	317K	31.4%	11.0%	12.6%	13.0%
Suffolk County	1.5M	28.5%	7.2%	5.1%	6.4%
Rockland County	342K	27.6%	11.9%	9.8%	16.2%
Onondaga County	471K	26.7%	14.4%	12.0%	13.8%
Chemung County	82K	24.9%	16.5%	9.8%	16.3%
Saratoga County	238K	24.4%	6.5%	4.7%	7.1%
Rensselaer County	160K	23.6%	10.9%	9.8%	11.8%
Ulster County	183K	23.4%	9.8%	7.3%	14.6%
Wyoming County	40K	21.7%	11.0%	7.3%	11.1%
Erie County	951K	20.9%	15.5%	11.5%	13.9%
Franklin County	47K	20.7%	17.5%	10.6%	18.2%
Niagara County	211K	19.8%	14.7%	9.9%	13.5%
Schenectady County	160K	18.8%	14.0%	12.4%	13.3%
Oneida County	229K	18.2%	16.7%	12.0%	15.5%
Livingston County	61K	18.0%	10.4%	5.8%	11.1%
Cortland County	46K	17.6%	15.5%	11.7%	12.8%
Madison County	67K	16.8%	11.6%	6.0%	10.0%
Columbia County	61K	16.7%	9.7%	6.1%	12.1%
Broome County	197K	16.4%	15.4%	13.5%	18.5%
St. Lawrence County	107K	16.4%	15.5%	10.1%	16.9%
Jefferson County	115K	15.2%	15.8%	9.7%	13.7%
Tompkins County	105K	15.2%	8.9%	14.1%	16.4%
Chautauqua County	126K	14.4%	19.9%	11.1%	17.4%
Steuben County	93K	14.1%	12.1%	10.1%	13.8%
Westchester County	1000K	14.0%	9.4%	14.3%	9.0%
Lewis County	27K	13.6%	12.5%	5.4%	12.3%
Fulton County	52K	12.5%	15.4%	10.2%	13.1%
Herkimer County	60K	12.4%	14.8%	9.6%	13.4%
Greene County	47K	11.7%	7.9%	7.3%	9.9%
Delaware County	44K	11.4%	12.4%	8.6%	14.4%
Ontario County	113K	9.9%	8.6%	6.1%	9.0%
Genesee County	58K	9.8%	13.6%	8.8%	10.6%
Clinton County	78K	9.3%	16.9%	10.4%	13.7%
Orleans County	40K	9.2%	15.4%	7.9%	12.7%
Tioga County	48K	8.3%	13.4%	7.2%	13.4%
Cattaraugus County	76K	7.9%	18.0%	10.7%	19.1%
Oswego County	118K	7.9%	16.0%	8.4%	16.3%
Washington County	61K	7.5%	12.1%	8.2%	10.7%
Schoharie County	30K	6.9%	13.7%	6.6%	11.7%
Seneca County	33K	6.6%	12.0%	8.8%	13.5%
Wayne County	91K	6.1%	11.4%	7.2%	11.4%
Nassau County	1.4M	5.6%	5.0%	6.8%	5.4%
Sullivan County	80K	4.6%	17.1%	8.6%	15.9%
Chenango County	46K	4.1%	14.4%	7.8%	11.8%
Allegany County	47K	3.9%	15.9%	7.7%	16.2%
Cayuga County	75K	3.3%	14.8%	9.1%	13.5%
Essex County	37K	2.9%	10.5%	7.4%	11.2%
Richmond County	495K	1.0%	13.4%	15.9%	11.5%
Schuyler County	18K	0.8%	15.1%	6.8%	14.8%
Bronx County	1.4M	0.6%	38.6%	61.1%	27.8%
Queens County	2.3M	0.6%	15.9%	37.4%	12.9%
Yates County	25K	0.6%	10.7%	14.0%	12.7%
Kings County	2.6M	0.0%	22.9%	56.4%	19.1%
New York County	1.6M	0.0%	14.4%	78.0%	16.5%

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 New York 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.