What does this measure?

The age-adjusted rate of adults experiencing food insecurity in the past 12 months. This is based on responses to a survey asking: How often in the past 12 months would you say you were worried or stressed about having enough money to buy nutritious meals?

Why is this important?

Food insecurity is one way to measure and assess the risk of hunger. Being food insecure is stressful, and food insecurity makes it difficult for children to learn and grow. Financially stressed families often need to choose between spending money on healthy food or other basic needs such as housing or health expenses.

How is the region performing?

Dutchess and Orange counties had the highest food insecurity rates in the region in 2021, at 24%, followed by Putnam at 22% and Sullivan at 21%. Columbia and Ulster had the lowest rates, both 14%. Dutchess County was the only county that saw an increase since 2014, rising 2 percentage points. Greene County experienced the most significant decrease since 2014, declining 17 points to 16%.

Notes about the data

2018 rates were suppressed due to small sample size. Data are based on respondents' answers to a telephone survey, so data are self-reported and therefore potentially subject to response bias, recall bias, social desirability bias, and other limitations associated with self-reporting.