Table: Household food security status by state

State

Number of households

Food insecurity
(low or very low food security)

Very low food security

Average
2007-09²

Interviewed

Prevalence

Margin of error³

Prevalence

Margin of error³

Number

Number

Percent

Percentage points

Percent

Percentage points

U.S.

117,613,000

123,300

13.5

0.28

5.2

0.13

AK

249,000

1,619

12.9

1.60

4.6

1.27

AL

1,860,000

1,415

15.0

2.08

6.8*

1.22

AR

1,149,000

1,463

17.7*

2.83

6.4

1.40

AZ

2,579,000

1,480

14.5

1.66

5.3

.93

CA

12,994,000

9,186

14.1

.65

5.1

.43

CO

1,987,000

2,739

12.2*

1.11

5.2

.60

CT

1,370,000

2,647

11.4*

1.02

4.6

.67

DC

289,000

1,955

12.9

1.87

4.5

.86

DE

341,000

1,832

9.5*

1.23

3.7*

.83

FL

7,492,000

4,873

14.2

.82

6.1*

.47

GA

3,750,000

2,652

15.6*

1.47

5.9

.83

HI

442,000

1,743

11.4*

1.32

3.9*

.91

IA

1,240,000

2,448

11.5*

1.00

5.0

.92

ID

561,000

1,381

11.6*

1.31

4.5

.91

IL

4,925,000

3,708

12.2*

1.08

4.4*

.57

IN

2,467,000

1,992

12.3

1.75

4.8

.79

KS

1,155,000

1,917

14.2

.83

4.8

.93

KY

1,688,000

1,874

13.4

1.87

5.0

1.05

LA

1,716,000

1,237

10.0*

1.42

3.3*

1.00

MA

2,536,000

1,869

10.0*

1.40

4.3

1.10

MD

2,182,000

2,813

11.1*

1.45

4.3*

.79

ME

542,000

2,616

14.8

1.53

6.7*

1.04

MI

3,910,000

2,948

13.4

1.40

5.0

.82

MN

2,119,000

3,130

10.5*

1.02

4.1*

.55

MO

2,441,000

2,153

15.0

1.74

6.4*

1.10

MS

1,142,000

1,212

17.1*

1.69

6.5*

1.02

MT

419,000

1,399

12.4

1.31

5.0

.76

NC

3,671,000

2,682

14.8*

1.23

5.0

.66

ND

273,000

1,775

6.7*

1.15

2.6*

.52

NE

707,000

1,933

12.2

1.93

4.8

1.20

NH

524,000

2,711

8.9*

1.12

3.9*

.80

NJ

3,129,000

2,350

11.5*

1.11

4.0*

.96

NM

767,000

1,086

14.7

2.16

4.7

1.57

NV

996,000

1,882

12.8

2.22

4.9

1.41

NY

7,592,000

4,910

12.4*

.96

4.6*

.49

OH

4,589,000

3,508

14.8

1.85

6.1*

.83

OK

1,441,000

1,570

15.2

1.80

6.5*

1.30

OR

1,514,000

1,772

13.9

1.46

6.6*

1.02

PA

4,988,000

3,756

11.8*

1.00

4.4*

.61

RI

424,000

2,127

13.7

1.20

5.4

.70

SC

1,798,000

1,859

13.5

1.80

5.0

.76

SD

328,000

2,041

11.2*

1.46

4.8

.83

TN

2,513,000

1,704

15.1

1.86

5.3

.99

TX

8,808,000

5,787

17.4*

.93

6.4*

.41

UT

887,000

1,247

11.8

2.08

4.9

1.10

VA

2,977,000

2,515

9.2*

1.20

3.6*

.76

VT

260,000

1,889

13.6

1.60

6.2

1.10

WA

2,624,000

2,137

14.0

1.59

5.8

1.14

WI

2,308,000

2,514

11.4*

1.15

4.4

.85

WV

727,000

1,473

13.4

2.27

5.3

1.09

WY

222,000

1,771

9.8*

1.78

3.6*

.87

*Difference from U.S. average was statistically significant with 90-percent confidence (t > 1.645).

¹Prevalence rates for 1996-98 reported in Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Hunger, by State, 1996-1998 (Nord et al., 1999) are not directly comparable with the rates reported here because of differences in screening procedures in the CPS Food Security Supplements from 1995 to 1998. Comparable statistics for the earlier period are presented in table 8.

²Totals exclude households whose food security status is unknown because they did not give a valid response to any of the questions in the food security scale.  These represented about 0.3 percent of all households in each year.
³Margin of error with 90-percent confidence (1.645 times the standard error of the estimated prevalence rate)

Source: Prepared by ERS using data from the December 2007, December 2008, and December 2009 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplements.