In the wake of increased inflation that accelerated sharply in 2021 and 2022 and with the withdrawal of pandemic aid, household food insecurity increased above prepandemic levels in 2023, nearly approaching the rate experienced at the height of the Great Recession. This brief examines 2019–24 trends in household food insecurity and receipt of charitable food using data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, a nationally representative survey of adults ages 18 to 64. We find that in December 2024, the shares of adults reporting food insecurity and charitable food receipt plateaued at high rates and remained significantly above prepandemic levels. We also find that food hardship was most common among groups that may be disproportionately affected by potential cuts to federal nutrition programs under consideration in Congress, including households with children; Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults; lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) adults; and adults with disabilities.

Why This Matters

Congress is considering major cuts to the federal safety net in 2025, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest source of food assistance to low-income families. The debate over these changes follows recent economic trends that have put increasing pressure on household food budgets. Our analysis sheds light on the challenges US households currently face in meeting basic needs and the potential impact of cuts to SNAP and other federal food programs.

What We Found

Food Insecurity

• More than one in four nonelderly adults (27.1 percent) reported that their households experienced food insecurity in 2024, a share that was unchanged from 2023 and continued to be higher than the share reported in 2019 (22.4 percent).
• Approximately one in three adults living with children from birth to age 5 (34.2 percent) or school-aged children ages 6 to 17 (31.5 percent) reported food insecurity in 2024.
• Other groups reporting high rates of food insecurity in 2024 included Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults (38.6 and 34.6 percent); lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) adults (32.8 percent); and adults with disabilities (52.1 percent).

Charitable Food Receipt

• More than one in six adults (17.6 percent) reported their households received charitable food in 2024, a share that was statistically unchanged from 2023 (16.6 percent). The rate of charitable food receipt has persisted above its 2019 level (12.1 percent) for the past five years.
• Twenty-three percent of adults living with young children and 21.8 percent of adults living with school-aged children reported receipt of charitable food in 2024, compared with 15.3 percent of adults in households without children.
• Groups that disproportionately experienced food insecurity also reported high rates of receiving charitable food, including Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults (30.6 percent and 25.4 percent) and adults with disabilities (34.9 percent).

How We Did It

This analysis draws on data from the December 2024 round of the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative, internet-based survey of adults ages 18 to 64 designed to monitor changes in individual and family well-being as policymakers consider changes to federal safety-net programs. It is fielded annually in December, with more than 7,500 adults participating in each survey round.