Parents and rural Texans hit hardest, but even middle income households are facing substantial food insecurity
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[February 2, 2o23, San Antonio, Texas]- Historic inflation and the expiration of pandemic-era relief programs have left more Texans struggling to afford basics like groceries, according to a new poll commissioned by No Kid Hungry Texas this month.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Texans are having a harder time affording groceries now compared to the same time last year. Families of school-aged children have been hit particularly hard, with two in five parents (40%) having experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months and more than a quarter (26%) reporting they worried they would not have enough food for their households due to lack of money or other resources.
“Child hunger is in every Texas community, and unfortunately it’s only getting harder for families to put food on the table. All around us, neighbors are skipping meals and running out of food in their homes before their next paycheck arrives,” said No Kid Hungry Texas Director Stacie Sanchez Hare.
Though lower income families have been hit hardest, even those with middle incomes are facing hunger: one-third of respondents (33%) with annual household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 reported food insecurity and two-thirds (65%) worried about their ability to buy groceries if faced with an unexpected expense or the loss of two weeks income.
“Working families are impacted too, many of them for the first time, and even many middle-income families are living just one emergency away from hunger,” said Sanchez Hare. “Officials at every level of government should take a hard look at these numbers, especially the overwhelming majority of Texans who want lawmakers to prioritize bipartisan solutions to the hunger crisis in our communities.”
Texans shared vivid examples of the challenges they face affording food for their families: “Things have gotten so bad that I had to rely on a food bank for the first time in my life. It was the only way we could get groceries for our family. We are a hard working family but the expenses are out of hand,” said a Dallas-area resident and Texas Hunger Survey respondent. “I can barely afford to feed my five-year-old daughter three meals a day so I go without so she can eat. And I am at the threshold where I make too much monthly for help but don’t make enough to get by,” shared another respondent in Fort Worth.
Key Findings:
● Parents and rural Texans are struggling particularly hard, with 40% of parents and 44% of rural respondents having experienced one or more symptoms of food insecurity in the past 12 months. A full quarter of parents (26%) and of rural Texans (25%) say that on at least one occasion in the past year, they worried that they wouldn’t have enough food for their household.
● Affording food is getting harder, with nearly three-quarters (73%) of Texans reporting they’re having a harder time affording groceries now compared to this time last year.
● Many Texans are one just emergency away from crisis: A significant majority (64%) of respondents say they would be worried about their ability to buy groceries if they had an unexpected $1,500 expense like a car repair or medical bill. Among parents and rural Texans, this number is even higher at 74% and 69%, respectively.
● Even middle-income families are greatly affected as one-third (33%) of adults with an annual household income of $50k-$100k reported facing food insecurity in the past 12 months and two-thirds (65%) said they’d worry about their ability to afford groceries if faced with the loss of just two weeks’ income.
● There is overwhelming support for ending childhood hunger in Texas with an overwhelming majority (90%+) of Texans agreeing that addressing childhood hunger should be a top priority for the state’s elected officials, and nearly all (95%) agreeing ending child hunger should be a bipartisan issue.
● Texans believe all kids deserve school meals, with 89% saying that school meals should be available at no cost for all kids who need them and 92% saying no child in Texas should be in debt to their school for meals.
Read a summary of the poll here, and see the full questionnaire, methodology and results here. The poll of 1,061 Texas residents was conducted by Change Research between January 2-8 and has a margin of error of +/- 4%.
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.