Capital Area Food Bank’s Latest Hunger Report Contains New Data Showing Dramatic Rise in the Prevalence of Food Insecurity Across the Region
New 3,800-person general population survey reveals that middle income households have seen some of the sharpest increases
Washington, DC, September 12, 2024 – Hunger rose significantly in the greater Washington region over the last year, according to a report issued today by the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) on food insecurity and inequity across the region.
Despite many positive macroeconomic headlines during the last year, there were enormous numbers of our neighbors experiencing a different reality: a startling 37% of respondents did not know where their next meal was coming from at some point between May 2023 and May 2024, based on data in the Capital Area Food Bank’s new Hunger Report. That’s an increase of 5 percentage points compared to the food bank’s 2023 survey. The new findings mean that nearly 1.5 million people in the region struggled to access enough to eat.
“The staggering numbers in this year’s report quantify what we’ve been seeing and hearing from our community for many months: things cost more, wages haven’t kept up, and most of the government supports that helped people weather the financial storms of the last several years are gone,” said Radha Muthiah, President and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank. “The economic gains that so many of us have read about simply aren’t being felt equally. Reversing this growth in food insecurity and inequity so that more of our neighbors can thrive must be a priority for all of us – everyone has a role to play in addressing this large but ultimately very solvable problem.”
Hunger Report 2024 is the fifth such study issued by the CAFB, and for the third year, the data informing the report was gathered in partnership with highly trusted independent social research organization NORC at the University of Chicago.
This year’s report illuminates the multiple, often compounding forces that continue to make putting food on the table extremely difficult for neighbors across the region. These include the cumulative impacts of high inflation; ongoing economic hardship and lagging wage growth; and the end of government pandemic response programs that had been buffering many families and individuals from significant financial hardship.
Higher rates of food insecurity were reported across virtually every category of geography, income, and race, when compared to the prior year. People of color, families with children, and those with lower incomes and levels of educational attainment continue to be experiencing food insecurity at disproportionate rates. However, this year’s data also depicted a food-insecure population that is growing increasingly educated and more middle-class, with large spikes seen among food insecurity in middle-income households.
Data Highlights
The survey data highlights who is most affected by food insecurity across the region, including changes in those demographics, as well as key drivers behind the rising rates. Among the top takeaways:
Food Insecurity is still widespread.
- Food insecurity rates across our region climbed significantly higher this past year, impacting 37% of adult residents (up from 32% the prior year).
- Overall, nearly 1.5 million people – including 103,000 children – struggled to access enough to eat.
- At the county level, rates of food insecurity saw similar jumps across the board. Rates ranged from 23% of residents in Arlington, VA (vs. 17% prior year), to fully 50% of the residents of Prince George’s County, MD (vs. 45% the prior year).
Food insecurity is rising most sharply among the middle class and those with high levels of education.
- Every income bracket saw increases in food insecurity, but the largest increases were among households earning $100k to $150k a year.
- 1 in 3 households are food insecure at the median income level for our region, which is about $121,000 annually. This is up from 1 in 5 in 2023.
- Well over half of those who are food insecure have more than a high school diploma: 29% have some college, and 29% have a college degree.
Food insecurity continues to disproportionately impact people of color and households with children
- 53% of the total Hispanic population screened as food insecure and 53% of the total Black population screened as food insecure, compared to 17% of the total White population.
- 40% of food-insecure households have children, compared to 28% of food secure households.
Major drivers of higher food insecurity rates over the past year include the rising costs of living due to inflation; ongoing employment hardships and lagging wage growth, and the full retraction of government support programs enacted during the pandemic.
- Wage growth hasn’t kept pace with inflation: someone making average earnings in our region today can buy 9.5% less with their wages than they did four years ago.
- In the past year, reductions in hours, wage cuts, and layoffs remained relatively common: 41% of people facing food insecurity were scheduled for fewer hours; 33% had their wages or salary reduced; and 24% experienced a layoff.
People experiencing food insecurity face difficult choices and trade-offs
- Of those without adequate money for food, 51% said they cut the size of their meals or skipped meals, and 39% said they experienced hunger but did not eat.
- 18% reported that their children weren’t eating enough because there wasn’t adequate money.
- Up to a third of respondents experienced some kind of financial tradeoff between food and other expenses, like housing or medical care.
Key Recommendations
Hunger Report 2024 also makes a series of recommendations on both short- and long-term approaches to enable a more equitable economy and pathways to opportunity, including strategies for:
- Maintain and strengthen federal programs that support food security;
- Adopt state-level policies that expand food access;
- Support programs and policies that address economic hardship holistically;
- Invest in upskilling the food insecure population; and
- Increase the accessibility of the emergency food assistance network.
About the Capital Area Food Bank
The Capital Area Food Bank works to address hunger today and create brighter futures tomorrow for more than a million people across the region experiencing food insecurity. As the anchor in the area’s hunger relief infrastructure, the food bank provided nearly 61 million meals to people in need last year by supplying food to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, including Martha’s Table, SOME – So Others Might Eat, DC Central Kitchen, Food for Others, Manna, and others. It also works in partnership with organizations across the region to address hunger’s root causes by pairing food with critical services such as education, health care, and job training. To learn more, visit https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/ or call (202.644.9864).