When the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) canceled its annual food security survey, Urban stepped in to help fill the gap.

Researchers and advocates have drawn on the USDA’s food security report to inform federal and state nutrition policy for almost 30 years, and charitable food organizations rely on it to target assistance. The 2025 survey would have shed light on the extent of food insecurity as states begin to implement the SNAP cuts enacted in the budget reconciliation bill.

With support from Feeding America and the Walmart Foundation, Urban is helping compensate for this loss of data by expanding the food insecurity section of our annual Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS). The WBNS is a nationally representative survey of 10,000 people that oversamples low-income and immigrant households who are often underrepresented in national surveys. We’re also building a new interface to make WBNS data more accessible, producing more analyses of WBNS data, and expanding our communications and outreach efforts to ensure that stakeholders can continue to find authoritative national data on food insecurity. Urban will release data from the expanded WBNS later this spring.

In addition, we worked with leading antihunger organizations and researchers to launch the Food Security Data Collaborative, which will help sustain access to validated food security measures during the current pause in federal data collection. The collaborative will serve as a knowledge hub and trusted advisor, issuing timely analyses of developments in food security measurement and providing technical assistance to help stakeholders draw on proven methods for new state and local surveys.