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By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Two separate surveys have recently showed a large increase in the number of Kentuckians who are food insecure, which now totals several hundred thousand.
More than 460,000 Kentucky residents didn’t have enough to eat for two one-week periods in August and September of 2024, which is 76 percent more than in August and September of 2021, according to an annual Hunger Atlas Report by the nonprofit group Hunger Free America, based on an analysis of federal data.
Hunger Free America attributes this surge in hunger to the expiration of several federal programs, including the expanded Child Tax Credit, increased SNAP (formerly called food stamps) allotments, and universal school meals, coupled with the impact of inflation.
However, the number is even larger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food insecurity data, which is a different way of measuring food hardship analyzed by Hunger Free America. The USDA data shows 676,191 Kentucky residents (15.3 percent) were found to live in food insecure households between 2021 and 2023. This includes 21.9 percent of children in the state (220,105), 10.7 percent of employed adults (211,786), and 9.6 percent of older Kentucky residents (107,206).
This year, in addition to their annual hunger survey, Hunger Free America also conducted a nationwide poll of low-income American households with children to assess the impacts of the USDA’s new Summer EBT program. Summer EBT (also known as SUN Bucks) is a new grocery benefit that launched in the summer of 2024 in 37 states and Washington, D.C. The new benefit, in which Kentucky is a participant, allows families with eligible school-aged children in states that opt-into the program to receive $120 per child for groceries over the summer.
“How can anyone seriously think the economy is healthy when so Americans – spread out among suburban, rural and urban communities in red and blue states alike — have a tough time affording something as basic as food?” said Hunger Free America CEO Joel Berg. “Our reports demonstrate vividly that both our economy and our social safety net are failing in a fundamental way.”
The full Hunger Atlas report, “Aid Denied, Hunger Increased,” is available on Hunger Free America’s website.
