After several months of delay, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the last of its annual reports on food security on December 30, showing that 47.9 million people in 18.3 million households reported having difficulty acquiring food due to lack of resources at some point in 2024. While the food insecurity rate in 2024 was statistically unchanged from 2023, it remained high, with nearly 1 in 7 households (13.7 percent) experiencing difficulty affording enough food to eat in 2024.

Although the economy was generally strong in 2024, food insecurity could rise in the coming years. Millions of people are being cut off from the food assistance they need to afford groceries as a result of the historic cuts to SNAP included in the harmful Republican megabill enacted in July 2025, and food prices are continuing to rise, partly due to tariffs. But USDA is ending the annual survey on food security after 30 years, beginning with the cancellation of data collection for 2025. The absence of this data will make it harder for policymakers, researchers, and the public to measure the harm inflicted by the largest-ever cuts to food assistance and the rising cost of food.

Food insecurity in 2024 remained statistically unchanged from 2023. Food insecurity rose in 2022 and 2023 as relief measures, such as expanded food assistance benefits and an expanded Child Tax Credit that were in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, expired and high food prices strained people’s food budgets.

Far too many households faced food insecurity in 2024. Nearly 1 in 5 (18.4 percent) households with children were food insecure in 2024, significantly higher than the 12.5 percent in 2021, when robust pandemic relief measures helped drive the rate down to a two-decade low.

Substantial racial inequities in food hardship persisted in 2024. Almost 1 in 4 (24.4 percent) Black (non-Hispanic) households and 1 in 5 Hispanic households were food insecure in 2024, at least double the rate for white households (10.1 percent). While the publicly available microdata file that allows for more detailed analyses has yet to be released, historically, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native households experience food insecurity at rates at least twice as high as white, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander households, and we expect those inequities to have persisted in 2024. These inequities reflect the impact of structural barriers rooted in systemic racism and other forms of discrimination that result in higher rates of poverty, all of which make it harder for many people of color to afford food.

Despite the significant data it provides, the USDA is eliminating the long-running annual survey on food security, the nation’s single longest running and most consistent measurement of a key indicator of material hardship. Data collection for 2025 was cancelled — it typically would have occurred in December 2025. No other federal survey representative at the national and state levels provides such detailed information about people’s experiences with food hardship on an annual basis.

This action is part of a larger pattern that will reduce the availability and quality of data. Without the data on food insecurity, it will be difficult to measure the harm inflicted by the Administration’s willful withholding of funds which delayed SNAP benefits in November 2025, and the largest-ever cuts to food assistance enacted in July 2025’s megabill as the cost of food continues to rise. Congress should act to require USDA to continue to collect and report on food insecurity data annually.

The discontinuation of food insecurity data means the Administration will take away a key measure to track the impact of the megabill’s cuts to SNAP, including:

  • Slashing federal funding for states’ SNAP programs, forcing substantial costs on them and risking states restricting access to SNAP or even some states ending SNAP entirely;
  • Taking food assistance away from millions of people, including families with children ages 14 and over, older adults ages 55 to 64, veterans, former foster youth, and people experiencing homelessness by expanding harsh, ineffective, and red tape-laden work requirements;
  • Ending food assistance for many people with a lawful immigration status based on humanitarian need; and
  • Cutting food benefits by preventing SNAP from keeping pace with the cost of a healthy diet and increasing paperwork to prove other expenses.

Programs like SNAP are critical for alleviating the effects of poverty and improving educational, health, and economic outcomes for individuals. SNAP is effective in reducing food insecurity, but its impacts extend beyond that. It provides resources to purchase food but also frees up household resources for other basic needs, such as rent, utilities, and medical care.

SNAP cuts are expected to increase poverty, food insecurity, and hunger by terminating or cutting food assistance for about 4 million people, including children, older adults, people with disabilities, and veterans, according to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates. The cuts could be far larger if states deeply cut or terminate SNAP in response to the reduction in federal funding. The Administration has argued that people who need help will still get it but are ending the survey that would show whether food hardship went up or not. This suggests that they don’t want to risk measuring the outcomes of the policies they championed.

A nation as wealthy as the U.S. can afford to ensure that families can put food on the table. Evidence from the pandemic crisis — including the robust data from the food security survey — shows the impact expanded food assistance can have on alleviating food hardship. Congress should repeal the unprecedented SNAP cuts enacted in the harmful Republican megabill, which our best evidence indicates will drive up poverty and hardship. But even if those cuts remain in place, Congress should reinstate the food security survey, so policymakers and the public understand the impacts of public policy choices on food hardship.