When enabled, the map only shows counties whose custom severity index is at least the slider value (0–100). Severity is this Atlas-based index, not a USDA LILA %.
When a household's income falls too low, reliable access to enough healthy food is often the first thing to go. Low income is the strongest predictor of household food insecurity in the United States.
This map shows 2,083 U.S. counties that contain food-desert tracts — not every U.S. county — shaded by a custom severity index from USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) tract data.
This map covers 2,083 U.S. counties (50 states + DC) where the USDA Food Access Research Atlas flags low-income / low-access (“food desert”) census tracts. Counties with no desert tracts in the source file are not drawn. Shading uses a custom severity index (0–100) built from Atlas tract indicators — not a single published USDA county LILA percentage.
County population and store counts come from Census and Food Environment Atlas fields packaged with the map. “People affected” aggregates desert-related population fields from the pipeline; treat totals as approximations.
Urban vs rural is a derived density flag from the source package, not a Census Urban Area designation.
All dollar amounts are U.S. dollars (USD). Weekly grocery figures are modelled estimates from BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey national food-at-home spending, scaled by county income — not local receipts. The fruits-&-vegetables share is a national constant in this edition.
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| Select up to 4 counties or states above to compare them side by side. | ||
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