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

According to USDA FARA (2019), North Carolina ranks #33 of 50 by population-weighted low-access share.

What share of North Carolina has low food access?

22.9% of North Carolina residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (+0.8 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in North Carolina?

353 census tracts in North Carolina are USDA food deserts (~715K low-income low-access residents); ~3.53 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in North Carolina?

Across North Carolina, 12.7% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (+0.6 pts vs U.S.) - high tercile among states.

Which county in North Carolina has the worst food access?

Hyde County has the highest low-access share at 60.5% (~0.2% of statewide low-access residents), with 22.5% SNAP.

Signature · 353 LILA tracts (3.53/county)

Food access in North Carolina

How far North Carolina residents live from a supermarket (22.9% low-access), where LILA tracts sit, and SNAP/vehicle context from USDA FARA 2019 + Census ACS 2024.

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

22.9%
low-access pop.: 353
food-desert tracts: 12.7%
on SNAP: 100
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State NC · North Carolina

LA-ELEVATED · PHOTO-FINISH · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-TYPICAL · VEH-OK · BOOK-MEGA

LA-ELEVATED 22.9% low-access
PHOTO-FINISH +0.8 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 353 food-desert tracts
SNAP-TYPICAL 12.7% SNAP
VEH-OK 5.3% no vehicle
BOOK-MEGA 100 counties

Nearest low-access peer: Nevada (+ 0.1 pts)

North Carolina's thick county book (100)

North Carolina covers 100 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

North Carolina vs all states by county count

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

100 8th of 51 higher than 43 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

Mid-band statewide picture

About 2.2M North Carolina residents (22.9%) live low-access - #33 of 50, with 353 USDA food-desert tracts.

#33
among states by low-access: 2.2M
low-access residents: 715K
food-desert residents: 5.3%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares. Low access = >1 mile urban / >10 miles rural from a supermarket.

Where North Carolina sits on low-access

North Carolina ringed at #33 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: 353 LILA tracts (3.53/county) .

North Carolina is in the middle third nationally on low-access (22.9% , #33 of 50). SNAP averages 12.7% of households (upper SNAP band) and 5.3% have no vehicle , with 353 LILA tracts. County pressure peaks in Hyde County at 60.5%.

Nationwide peers for North Carolina's low-access or SNAP share

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for North Carolina. 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 (22.9% here).

Nevada · 23.0% low-access
Maryland · 22.7% low-access
Washington · 23.1% low-access
Michigan · 23.2% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (12.7% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

California · 12.6% SNAP
Florida · 12.8% SNAP
Ohio · 12.3% SNAP
Georgia · 12.2% SNAP

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

NM

31.7
MI

23.2
WA

23.1
NV

23
NC

22.9
MD

22.7
DC

4.6

Hyde

60.5
Bertie

45.9
Forsyth

40.9
Union

39.3
Onslow

38.9
Dare

35.6
Caldwell

35.1
Chowan

35.1

All counties in North Carolina

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Hyde County	5K	60.5%	22.5%	11.1%	22.2%
Bertie County	17K	45.9%	23.9%	8.7%	16.1%
Forsyth County	390K	40.9%	13.9%	6.2%	14.5%
Union County	251K	39.3%	7.6%	2.4%	7.7%
Onslow County	208K	38.9%	12.1%	4.3%	11.6%
Dare County	38K	35.6%	5.1%	2.7%	6.6%
Caldwell County	81K	35.1%	14.3%	4.7%	13.4%
Chowan County	14K	35.1%	22.2%	9.8%	19.1%
Craven County	103K	34.4%	14.0%	6.3%	13.7%
Carteret County	69K	33.2%	9.0%	3.7%	10.1%
Gaston County	235K	33.2%	16.1%	5.1%	13.5%
Durham County	332K	33.0%	9.1%	6.7%	11.5%
Cabarrus County	236K	31.7%	10.3%	4.0%	9.3%
Davie County	44K	31.5%	11.7%	6.1%	9.4%
Lenoir County	55K	31.3%	27.3%	9.1%	22.0%
Buncombe County	274K	29.4%	9.5%	4.7%	11.8%
Cumberland County	339K	29.2%	18.6%	6.8%	16.7%
New Hanover County	235K	28.7%	9.2%	5.6%	12.3%
Catawba County	164K	28.2%	11.9%	5.2%	12.7%
Brunswick County	153K	28.0%	8.5%	2.4%	9.2%
Moore County	105K	26.8%	8.6%	4.2%	10.1%
Gates County	10K	25.9%	14.0%	2.3%	9.4%
Henderson County	118K	25.7%	9.2%	3.5%	11.6%
Wake County	1.2M	25.4%	6.2%	4.4%	8.1%
Lincoln County	93K	25.3%	11.4%	3.3%	11.2%
Davidson County	173K	25.2%	13.1%	3.9%	12.8%
Alamance County	177K	25.0%	13.6%	4.7%	13.4%
Burke County	88K	24.9%	14.3%	4.8%	15.6%
Guilford County	548K	24.2%	15.5%	6.7%	14.6%
Pender County	66K	23.6%	11.8%	3.2%	9.7%
Randolph County	146K	23.3%	15.2%	3.7%	14.5%
Granville County	61K	23.1%	13.9%	3.6%	15.2%
Wayne County	119K	23.1%	19.6%	6.8%	17.3%
Lee County	66K	23.0%	15.2%	3.9%	16.5%
Richmond County	42K	22.7%	28.6%	10.7%	25.2%
Rowan County	150K	22.7%	16.0%	6.5%	16.0%
Hertford County	20K	22.4%	27.8%	7.9%	22.9%
Ashe County	27K	22.2%	14.0%	4.4%	13.5%
Iredell County	197K	22.2%	8.1%	3.7%	10.0%
Pitt County	177K	21.7%	15.2%	9.0%	19.8%
Mecklenburg County	1.2M	21.3%	8.7%	5.8%	10.4%
Scotland County	34K	20.8%	31.6%	10.8%	25.8%
Beaufort County	44K	20.7%	16.7%	6.2%	17.8%
Alexander County	36K	20.4%	13.5%	3.1%	12.6%
Hoke County	54K	18.2%	20.1%	4.8%	17.1%
Harnett County	139K	17.9%	15.2%	3.9%	13.7%
Pasquotank County	41K	17.8%	17.6%	5.7%	11.0%
Nash County	96K	17.7%	18.3%	6.9%	11.8%
Rockingham County	92K	17.7%	17.7%	6.7%	16.3%
Edgecombe County	49K	17.6%	23.6%	10.0%	21.7%
Montgomery County	26K	17.0%	18.6%	4.8%	15.4%
Rutherford County	65K	14.5%	19.5%	5.1%	16.8%
Bladen County	30K	14.4%	26.2%	7.8%	22.0%
Cleveland County	101K	13.8%	21.3%	5.0%	16.6%
Stokes County	45K	13.6%	14.8%	4.5%	11.2%
Madison County	22K	13.1%	12.2%	4.5%	12.1%
Johnston County	234K	12.5%	11.4%	3.7%	10.6%
Yadkin County	38K	12.2%	14.3%	5.2%	14.0%
Chatham County	80K	11.2%	5.1%	2.6%	11.0%
Duplin County	49K	11.0%	15.8%	5.8%	20.5%
Person County	40K	10.9%	20.5%	4.9%	17.5%
Halifax County	48K	10.8%	29.1%	9.1%	22.8%
Tyrrell County	3K	10.5%	27.3%	10.7%	18.7%
Haywood County	63K	9.5%	13.5%	4.0%	13.1%
Martin County	22K	9.5%	20.1%	8.6%	20.4%
Surry County	71K	9.3%	19.5%	4.8%	16.8%
Wilson County	79K	9.3%	18.1%	7.0%	19.8%
Caswell County	22K	8.7%	20.1%	6.0%	18.6%
Cherokee County	30K	8.7%	11.9%	5.8%	12.4%
Orange County	150K	8.7%	5.8%	4.9%	12.5%
Robeson County	117K	8.5%	32.6%	7.9%	27.2%
Anson County	22K	8.4%	33.8%	9.4%	21.7%
Transylvania County	34K	8.3%	11.3%	4.6%	13.2%
Watauga County	55K	8.3%	7.5%	4.4%	25.5%
Columbus County	50K	8.2%	22.6%	5.5%	18.2%
Macon County	38K	8.0%	8.9%	6.1%	11.6%
Sampson County	59K	7.2%	20.2%	4.8%	21.8%
Wilkes County	66K	6.9%	15.4%	5.8%	16.7%
Mitchell County	15K	6.5%	17.0%	8.1%	12.9%
Vance County	42K	6.1%	24.3%	8.0%	19.8%
Jackson County	44K	6.0%	12.2%	3.1%	18.0%
Pamlico County	12K	5.9%	10.8%	3.5%	15.2%
Polk County	20K	5.7%	9.7%	4.0%	14.0%
Perquimans County	13K	5.4%	13.7%	5.8%	9.8%
Stanly County	65K	5.2%	15.4%	5.5%	15.2%
Alleghany County	11K	4.3%	14.0%	6.0%	16.0%
Franklin County	74K	4.2%	12.4%	3.8%	11.1%
Camden County	11K	3.6%	10.6%	1.4%	6.1%
Clay County	12K	3.2%	11.2%	6.4%	12.9%
Swain County	14K	2.9%	14.7%	6.6%	19.1%
McDowell County	45K	2.8%	18.3%	6.2%	14.8%
Graham County	8K	2.7%	14.7%	10.6%	6.7%
Warren County	19K	2.5%	23.1%	7.6%	21.1%
Currituck County	31K	1.5%	5.8%	2.1%	7.5%
Washington County	11K	1.4%	33.9%	14.1%	24.1%
Northampton County	17K	1.2%	26.4%	7.0%	21.1%
Yancey County	19K	1.2%	13.8%	4.6%	15.2%
Avery County	18K	0.3%	13.9%	5.1%	10.2%
Jones County	9K	0.2%	15.5%	6.6%	18.4%
Greene County	20K	0.1%	21.9%	5.8%	21.0%

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 North Carolina 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.