29% OF ARIZONA HOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDREN STRUGGLED TO BUY ENOUGH FOOD IN 2010

A new report by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) shows 29% of Arizona households with children experienced food hardship in 2010, defined as not having enough money to buy needed food during the previous twelve months. This ties Arizona with Louisiana for the 7th worst food hardship rate for households with children in the country. Nationally, the average food hardship rate for households with children was 23.4% and Washington D.C. led all states at 37.4%.

Food hardship data is also available by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and Congressional District. Both the Tucson and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSAs ranked in the top-25 nationally for food hardship in households with children, ranking 15th (28.7%) and 20th (27.7%) respectively. Unfortunately, that means more than 1 in 4 children in both of Arizona’s major metro areas struggle with food hardship.