Decreasing
What does this measure?
The percentage of households that lack access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and/or experience limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.
Why is this important?
Food insecurity is one way to measure and assess the risk of hunger. Being food insecure is stressful, and food insecurity makes it difficult for children to learn and grow. Financially stressed families often need to choose between spending money on healthy food or other basic needs such as housing or health expenses.
How is Westchester County performing?
In 2021, 7% of Westchester households were food insecure, two percentage points lower than in 2013. This rate was lower than the state and nation, at 11% and 10%, respectively. Among comparison counties, Westchester's food insecurity rate was slightly lower than Rockland's (8%) but higher than in Putnam (5%) and Nassau (4%).
Notes about the data
Feeding America estimates the level of food insecurity in counties by analyzing the relationship between reported food insecurity and related indicators such as poverty, unemployment, homeownership at the state level, then applies that knowledge to generate estimates based on county data on poverty, unemployment and similar indicators.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester County | 9% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 7% |
| Nassau County | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 4% |
| Putnam County | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 5% |
| Rockland County | 10% | 10% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 10% | 8% |
| New York State | 14% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 11% |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester County | 90,040 | 84,970 | 78,390 | 75,080 | 75,400 | 75,730 | 72,490 | 76,520 | 66,080 |
| Nassau County | 93,610 | 85,940 | 81,420 | 76,040 | 73,050 | 72,210 | 66,420 | 77,750 | 60,640 |
| Putnam County | 6,330 | 5,440 | 5,180 | 4,700 | 4,580 | 5,700 | 5,900 | 6,240 | 5,230 |
| Rockland County | 30,560 | 30,070 | 30,310 | 29,690 | 29,030 | 28,980 | 29,100 | 31,590 | 27,720 |
| New York State | 2,739,920 | 2,672,460 | 2,502,250 | 2,352,940 | 2,261,250 | 2,166,060 | 2,090,550 | 1,882,580 | 2,265,160 |
Notes: Food insecurity refers to USDA’s measure of lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food-insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household’s need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods.
