Hunger Facts

Why, in the wealthiest country in the world, are tens of millions of American families going hungry? There’s enough food to go around; it’s our policy choices that are leaving refrigerators empty and people in crisis.   

When systems fail us, communities rise. That’s where WhyHunger’s Hungerthon comes in. Let’s take hunger off the table, together.

Hunger in America:

• A staggering 47.7 million Americans, including nearly 14 million children, live in food-insecure households, according to the USDA (2023).  

• Last year, 1 in 7 households in America struggled to get food on the table.

• More than half of Americans (53%) see grocery prices as a major source of stress (AP-NORC)

• The growing hunger crisis reflects deeper issues—inequality, a lack of living wages, drastic government cuts, and climate crises. 

• Hunger doesn’t affect everyone equally. The systemic injustice at the root of hunger means that there is a disproportional impact on Black, Indigenous and other communities of color across the U.S.

• Black and Latinx households experienced food insecurity at more than double the rate of white households in 2023.

• Newly passed federal changes to SNAP may cause 22.3 million families to lose some or all of their benefits, according to research from the nonpartisan research organization Urban Institute.

• USDA has cut more than $1 billion from schools, food banks, and community programs.

Hunger in New York City:

• 1 in 3 NYC families are struggling to make ends meet (Food Bank of NYC)
  

• 50% of NYC families are unable to afford the rising costs of food and rent (Food Bank of NYC)
  

• More than 1.3 million New Yorkers — including 1 in 4 kids — face food insecurity (Food Bank for NYC)

• 58% of New Yorkers live in families earning below 200% of the poverty line—less than $94,000 for a couple with two children. Poverty in the city surged by seven percentage points in two years, nearly doubling the national average. The expiration of pandemic-era government aid played a major role in this increase (2025 report from Columbia University + Robinhood). 

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