State food-access profile · 36 counties

Food access in Oregon

How far Oregon 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

16.9%
low-access pop.: 100
food-desert tracts: 16.0%
on SNAP: 36
counties

The statewide picture

About 649K Oregon residents - 16.9% - live in a low-access area, and 100 census tracts across the state are USDA-designated food deserts.

649K
low-access residents: 179K
food-desert residents: 7.0%
households, no vehicle: 12.0%
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 Oregon stands nationally

Every state colored by its population-weighted low-access share, Oregon 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 Oregon 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 36 counties and 4.3M residents, Oregon's population-weighted low-access share is 16.9%.

A tract becomes a food desert only when its low-access residents are also low-income. That applies to 100 tracts in Oregon, home to roughly 179K low-income, low-access residents. SNAP participation across the state averages 16.0% of households, and 7.0% 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

16.9%

Low-access (pop-weighted)

649K

Low-access residents

16.0%

Avg. SNAP

Wheeler

100
Gilliam

54.6
Sherman

47.8
Lake

40.5
Wasco

40
Grant

39.8
Harney

38.1
Baker

37.9

All counties in Oregon

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Wheeler County	1K	100.0%	11.1%	3.4%	10.8%
Gilliam County	2K	54.6%	11.5%	5.1%	15.3%
Sherman County	2K	47.8%	23.8%	6.2%	22.0%
Lake County	8K	40.5%	17.0%	5.1%	14.9%
Wasco County	27K	40.0%	21.8%	6.0%	11.6%
Grant County	7K	39.8%	15.6%	2.4%	12.8%
Harney County	7K	38.1%	23.1%	7.8%	13.7%
Baker County	17K	37.9%	16.7%	5.3%	14.9%
Linn County	131K	34.7%	19.7%	4.2%	13.0%
Klamath County	70K	34.3%	23.7%	6.6%	18.3%
Umatilla County	80K	30.5%	20.5%	5.2%	11.8%
Benton County	96K	27.9%	13.3%	7.4%	18.2%
Polk County	90K	25.9%	19.8%	4.8%	12.7%
Wallowa County	8K	25.1%	12.0%	3.7%	7.8%
Douglas County	112K	23.2%	21.1%	5.2%	16.3%
Deschutes County	206K	23.0%	9.9%	4.0%	8.8%
Josephine County	88K	22.2%	24.1%	4.8%	15.6%
Jackson County	223K	20.1%	17.9%	5.8%	12.4%
Lane County	384K	17.9%	19.1%	7.7%	15.3%
Marion County	349K	17.4%	19.7%	6.2%	13.0%
Clackamas County	424K	17.3%	10.1%	4.8%	7.7%
Crook County	26K	16.5%	14.6%	4.9%	11.3%
Yamhill County	109K	15.7%	15.8%	5.5%	10.3%
Hood River County	24K	15.0%	13.4%	5.8%	8.0%
Washington County	604K	14.3%	10.5%	5.6%	8.1%
Lincoln County	51K	14.2%	21.1%	4.5%	15.9%
Jefferson County	25K	12.5%	24.7%	4.5%	13.4%
Clatsop County	41K	12.4%	15.3%	7.7%	12.3%
Union County	26K	12.1%	19.4%	7.3%	16.1%
Coos County	65K	10.6%	23.4%	7.0%	16.1%
Malheur County	32K	8.9%	28.3%	6.7%	17.6%
Multnomah County	801K	7.6%	16.1%	12.6%	12.6%
Curry County	23K	6.6%	15.0%	4.1%	15.2%
Columbia County	53K	6.1%	15.6%	4.4%	8.9%
Morrow County	12K	4.5%	19.5%	3.5%	13.2%
Tillamook County	27K	2.9%	16.1%	4.3%	12.7%

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

16.9% of Oregon residents, about 649K people, live in a low-access area.
100 census tracts are USDA food deserts, home to roughly 179K low-income, low-access residents.
16.0% of households receive SNAP, and 7.0% have no vehicle.
Wheeler County has the state's highest low-access share at 100.0%.

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 Oregon has low food access?▼

16.9% of Oregon 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 Oregon?▼

100 census tracts in Oregon are USDA-designated food deserts, both low-access and low-income, home to roughly 179K low-income residents.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Oregon?▼

Across Oregon counties, an average of 16.0% of households receive SNAP (Census ACS 2024), though rates vary between urban and rural areas.

Which county in Oregon has the worst food access?▼

Wheeler County has the highest low-access share in Oregon at 100.0%, with 11.1% 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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