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

Tennessee ranks #13 of 50 and sits in the upper third by population-weighted low-access (27.2%), per USDA FARA 2019.

What share of Tennessee has low food access?

27.2% of Tennessee residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (+5.1 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in Tennessee?

266 census tracts in Tennessee are USDA food deserts (~563K low-income low-access residents); ~2.8 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Tennessee?

Across Tennessee, 10.8% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (-1.3 pts vs U.S.) - mid tercile among states.

Which county in Tennessee has the worst food access?

Carter County has the highest low-access share at 47.0% (~1.6% of statewide low-access residents), with 14.3% SNAP.

Signature · 95 counties in the atlas book

Food access in Tennessee

Tennessee sits in the upper third nationally on low-access (27.2%, +5.1 pts vs U.S.), with USDA FARA 2019 + ACS 2024 context for 95 counties.

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

27.2%
low-access pop.: 266
food-desert tracts: 10.8%
on SNAP: 95
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State TN · Tennessee

LA-ELEVATED · ABOVE-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-TYPICAL · VEH-OK · BOOK-MID

LA-ELEVATED 27.2% low-access
ABOVE-NATIONAL +5.1 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 266 food-desert tracts
SNAP-TYPICAL 10.8% SNAP
VEH-OK 5.2% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 95 counties

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

Tennessee's thick county book (95)

Tennessee covers 95 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

Tennessee vs all states by county count

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

95 10th of 51 higher than 41 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

Upper-band statewide picture

According to USDA FARA, Tennessee is in the upper third on low-access (27.2%, #13 of 50; ~1.7M residents) - +5.1 pts vs the U.S. mean.

#13
among states by low-access: 1.7M
low-access residents: 563K
food-desert residents: 5.2%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares (not a county average). Upper-band states often pair elevated low-access with clustered LILA tracts.

Tennessee among higher low-access states

Tennessee ringed at #13 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: 95 counties in the atlas book .

Tennessee sits in the upper third of states by population-weighted low-access share (27.2% , #13 of 50). The Atlas marks 266 food-desert tracts here (563K low-income low-access residents). Carter County alone holds about 1.6% of the state's low-access residents. County book is thick (95 units) so statewide averages mask more local spread.

States near Tennessee's elevated low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for Tennessee. 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 (27.2% here).

Minnesota · 27.4% low-access
New Hampshire · 27.5% low-access
Arizona · 26.8% low-access
Hawaii · 26.7% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (10.8% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Maryland · 10.9% SNAP
Alaska · 10.7% SNAP
Vermont · 10.6% SNAP
Wisconsin · 11.1% SNAP

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

NM

31.7
NH

27.5
MN

27.4
DE

27.3
TN

27.2
AZ

26.8
DC

4.6

Carter

47
Montgomery

47
Hamilton

43.9
Williamson

43.9
Hamblen

42.7
Sequatchie

42.1
Putnam

41.4
Knox

41.2

All counties in Tennessee

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Carter County	57K	47.0%	14.3%	4.6%	17.1%
Montgomery County	234K	47.0%	8.1%	3.8%	11.3%
Hamilton County	376K	43.9%	9.4%	5.8%	13.1%
Williamson County	260K	43.9%	1.9%	2.1%	4.6%
Hamblen County	66K	42.7%	14.0%	4.9%	18.4%
Sequatchie County	17K	42.1%	16.5%	4.4%	21.9%
Putnam County	83K	41.4%	9.3%	3.8%	18.4%
Knox County	494K	41.2%	8.9%	5.3%	12.2%
Wilson County	159K	35.3%	5.3%	2.2%	8.0%
Lewis County	13K	34.6%	18.7%	2.5%	16.7%
Sumner County	204K	33.8%	6.1%	3.3%	8.8%
Madison County	99K	33.5%	16.3%	8.9%	18.2%
Bradley County	111K	32.9%	11.7%	5.3%	12.7%
Shelby County	919K	32.8%	15.5%	8.2%	17.8%
Sullivan County	161K	30.7%	13.1%	4.8%	15.4%
Blount County	139K	30.1%	5.9%	2.7%	8.4%
White County	28K	29.1%	13.0%	3.8%	13.2%
Greene County	72K	28.6%	11.7%	5.3%	15.4%
Dyer County	37K	27.5%	15.8%	6.7%	16.3%
Cumberland County	64K	26.9%	11.3%	4.9%	14.4%
Davidson County	715K	26.6%	8.3%	6.5%	13.9%
Washington County	136K	26.2%	8.6%	5.2%	15.5%
Maury County	108K	25.6%	6.3%	2.8%	9.8%
Haywood County	17K	25.4%	24.7%	11.3%	21.5%
Perry County	9K	24.6%	13.3%	4.2%	18.1%
Wayne County	16K	24.4%	17.0%	8.2%	20.0%
McNairy County	26K	24.1%	15.2%	4.6%	16.5%
Henry County	32K	23.1%	13.1%	5.6%	18.3%
Bedford County	52K	23.0%	10.2%	3.0%	12.6%
Marshall County	36K	22.6%	6.6%	3.2%	11.8%
Rutherford County	361K	22.4%	7.0%	2.7%	9.3%
Humphreys County	19K	22.3%	11.5%	3.8%	14.8%
Cocke County	37K	21.9%	18.8%	4.4%	21.9%
Gibson County	51K	21.5%	16.5%	6.6%	13.7%
Sevier County	100K	21.5%	7.2%	4.1%	13.5%
Rhea County	34K	21.2%	17.0%	7.0%	15.9%
Scott County	22K	20.5%	22.5%	5.3%	23.1%
Roane County	55K	20.3%	13.1%	5.9%	12.0%
Weakley County	33K	19.4%	14.0%	5.5%	19.0%
Franklin County	44K	19.1%	8.3%	4.1%	12.0%
Hardin County	27K	19.0%	14.9%	5.4%	21.5%
Fayette County	43K	16.9%	9.7%	5.3%	10.3%
Hawkins County	58K	16.8%	12.9%	4.3%	15.2%
Jefferson County	57K	16.8%	10.8%	2.8%	11.4%
Stewart County	14K	15.8%	11.1%	4.8%	16.4%
DeKalb County	21K	14.6%	13.2%	7.0%	18.6%
Crockett County	14K	14.5%	13.5%	7.2%	14.5%
McMinn County	55K	14.5%	13.5%	4.2%	13.0%
Loudon County	59K	14.2%	6.4%	3.8%	12.6%
Macon County	26K	14.0%	17.7%	4.9%	17.2%
Monroe County	48K	14.0%	15.5%	5.5%	15.5%
Campbell County	40K	13.8%	18.5%	5.7%	18.5%
Coffee County	60K	13.7%	11.7%	4.2%	17.4%
Morgan County	21K	12.8%	14.4%	5.1%	15.1%
Benton County	16K	12.6%	15.8%	5.4%	17.8%
Hardeman County	25K	12.5%	19.3%	7.6%	19.0%
Dickson County	56K	12.2%	9.3%	2.9%	10.9%
Giles County	31K	12.0%	11.4%	5.2%	12.8%
Chester County	18K	11.4%	13.3%	3.1%	16.1%
Anderson County	79K	10.9%	11.9%	5.6%	13.4%
Marion County	29K	10.9%	14.6%	4.2%	16.3%
Lincoln County	36K	10.2%	8.6%	3.9%	12.9%
Hickman County	25K	9.8%	10.1%	2.8%	10.6%
Warren County	42K	9.6%	15.0%	4.5%	15.7%
Carroll County	29K	9.4%	12.5%	5.5%	17.0%
Robertson County	76K	9.4%	7.4%	3.3%	10.4%
Claiborne County	32K	8.4%	14.8%	4.0%	17.4%
Johnson County	18K	8.2%	15.1%	4.3%	21.4%
Cheatham County	42K	7.6%	5.9%	2.0%	7.7%
Grundy County	14K	6.9%	16.8%	4.5%	18.9%
Obion County	30K	6.8%	15.6%	5.9%	18.6%
Decatur County	12K	6.2%	17.2%	5.7%	22.1%
Lauderdale County	25K	5.9%	22.7%	9.1%	21.0%
Bledsoe County	15K	4.7%	18.1%	5.1%	20.7%
Henderson County	28K	4.1%	16.5%	4.5%	16.9%
Tipton County	62K	4.1%	12.4%	5.2%	13.6%
Polk County	18K	4.0%	14.0%	4.6%	13.9%
Unicoi County	18K	3.7%	13.6%	4.0%	14.3%
Lawrence County	45K	3.5%	14.1%	7.6%	15.0%
Smith County	20K	3.3%	9.8%	3.9%	10.0%
Meigs County	13K	3.2%	15.8%	2.8%	14.3%
Cannon County	15K	2.3%	10.4%	4.6%	18.3%
Houston County	8K	1.9%	15.4%	2.7%	11.1%
Union County	20K	1.9%	14.8%	2.9%	13.8%
Van Buren County	6K	1.9%	18.6%	8.1%	16.1%
Hancock County	7K	1.1%	34.8%	11.8%	32.2%
Pickett County	5K	0.8%	17.4%	5.4%	23.9%
Overton County	23K	0.4%	11.8%	3.4%	16.3%
Fentress County	19K	0.3%	22.5%	5.2%	21.0%
Clay County	8K	0.2%	25.2%	6.7%	24.2%
Lake County	7K	0.2%	31.8%	18.3%	32.2%
Jackson County	12K	0.1%	15.8%	6.1%	20.3%
Moore County	7K	0.1%	6.7%	5.1%	8.0%
Grainger County	24K	0.0%	14.0%	5.0%	17.1%
Trousdale County	12K	0.0%	10.9%	4.2%	11.9%

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 Tennessee 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.