One in Five Children is Food Insecure in 2010

In 2010, more than one in five U.S. chil­dren lived in house­holds that were food inse­cure at some point dur­ing the year. This rep­re­sents 17 mil­lion chil­dren and an increase of 3.7 mil­lion chil­dren since 2005. This increase occurred as the unem­ploy­ment rates of par­ents dou­bled to 8 per­cent, lim­it­ing the resources fam­i­lies have for shel­ter, food and cloth­ing. New Mex­i­co and Ari­zona had the high­est rate of child­hood food inse­cu­ri­ty (29 per­cent), while Vir­ginia and North Dako­ta had the low­est rate (12 percent).

See the Eco­nom­ic Well-Being sec­tion of the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter for nation­al, state and city data.

• Chil­dren liv­ing in house­holds that were food inse­cure at some point dur­ing the year (not avail­able for cities)
• Chil­dren liv­ing in fam­i­lies where no par­ent has full-time, year-round employment
• Low-income work­ing fam­i­lies with children
• Unem­ploy­ment rate of par­ents (not avail­able for cities)
• Medi­an fam­i­ly (with child) income
• Female-head­ed fam­i­lies receiv­ing child support