Mapping the Meal Gap in the United States

Feeding America created an interactive map of food insecurity in the United States in order to assist with its food aid efforts at the local community level.  The Mapping the Meal Gap project also serves the general public with a useful illustration of hunger statistics by state and county, including:

• a piechart of the food insecurity rate (and total number of food insecure people)
• the income bands within the food insecure population
• the additional money needed to meet the food needs (in 2009)
• the average cost of a meal in that state

The map was recently supplemented with information about food insecurity rates for children in the U.S., also broken down by state, county and food bank area.  The data displayed not only shows how child food insecurity in these areas compares with overall food insecurity, it provides data on children’s access to nutrition programs in these areas.