FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2025
Contact: Laura Rice, lrice@strength.org
New Poll: Food Costs Rising Faster than Income, Forcing Many Pennsylvanians to Go into Debt to Afford Food
80% of Pennsylvanians Believe That SNAP is Core to Solving Child Hunger, 61% Oppose Federal Cuts to the Program
Harrisburg, PA – A staggering 86% of Pennsylvanians say that the cost of food is rising faster than their income, according to a new poll commissioned by No Kid Hungry. The rising costs have forced 56% of Pennsylvanians into debt to put food on the table, with 55% saying they are struggling to provide their households with enough nutritious food.
These dire findings come as federal lawmakers consider massive cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), grocery benefits that help struggling families afford food. This would be an unpopular move in Pennsylvania, where the majority (61%) of respondents oppose cuts to SNAP.
Cuts to SNAP would be devastating to families already struggling to make ends meet. One mom in Monroe County told us, “My husband and I own a business and two years ago we lost everything in a fire. We are struggling to get by and if we didn’t have SNAP I don’t know how we would afford food at all.” “I would not be able to pay the mortgage, we would be homeless,” a woman from Jefferson County told us.
“The rising cost of groceries isn’t just straining household budgets—it’s pushing families deeper into debt. This should be a wake-up call to policymakers in Harrisburg and Washington,” said Ashley Roudebush of No Kid Hungry Pennsylvania. “Regardless of region or political party, Pennsylvanians all agree we need bipartisan support for common-sense programs like SNAP that help families put food on the table and give kids the healthy food they need to thrive.”
The benefits of SNAP go beyond families: Two-thirds (66%) of Pennsylvanians believe SNAP has a positive impact on rural economies and businesses and over half (54%) believe the program supports small farmers by increasing demand for locally grown food.
Nearly all Pennsylvanians (95%) agree that child hunger should not exist in the state and that ending childhood hunger in Pennsylvania should be a shared, bipartisan goal, with four-in-five (80%) believing that nutrition programs like SNAP are core to achieving this goal.
The poll was conducted by Change Research between March 13 and 19 and surveyed 1,096 Pennsylvanians across the state and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3%. Read the poll summary here.
About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But millions of kids could face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org.
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