For Immediate Release: Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty Responds to 2021 Household Food Security Report

September 14, 2022

Media Contact: Craig Nash, craig_nash@baylor.edu

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WACO, TX – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its 2021 Household Food Security report. The annual report assesses households’ ability to secure enough food for all household members to live an active, healthy life.

The 2021 report found no significant change in food insecurity from the previous year.

Overall, 10.2% of households were considered food insecure compared to 10.5% in 2020. This is the lowest rate of food insecurity since measurement began in 1996.

Very low food security also held steady at 3.8% of households compared to 3.9% in 2020, meaning 3.8% of those surveyed had difficulty acquiring food and reduced or changed their food intake as a result.

In Texas, the average prevalence of food insecurity between 2019 and 2021 sits at 13.4% and continues to outpace the national average of 10.4% over the same period.

“This is great news regarding food insecurity in the U.S.! In 2020, there were 38 million food insecure Americans, which fell to 33 million in 2021,” said Dr. Craig Gundersen, Snee Family Endowed Chair for BCHP and professor of economics at Baylor University. “Disparities in food insecurity also fell as rates for Hispanics and Black persons fell substantially from 2020. We still, however, have a long way to go. Thirty-three million food insecure Americans is still too high.”

The USDA’s full 2021 report on Household Food Security in the United States can be accessed here.