Food Insecurity Rates in Maine

USDA Household Food Insecurity Measure 

As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), “food insecurity means that households were, at times, unable to acquire adequate food for one or more household members because they had insufficient money and other resources for food.” Because food insecurity is caused by a lack of sufficient resources, it is a symptom of a household’s broader struggle to make ends meet. That struggle results in making sacrifices on food, which is a more flexible expense compared to other basic need expenses with non-negotiable fixed costs like housing. As the oft-cited saying goes, the rent eats first (Desmond, 2017). 

The USDA measures household food insecurity annually using data collected in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS), with state-level rates reported as three-year averages due to the survey sample size. The latest report found that 10.9% of households in Maine were food insecure in 2021-2023, with 40% of those food insecure households (4.4% of Maine households overall) experiencing very low food security, the most severe form of food deprivation.  

The USDA has been reporting on the prevalence and severity of food insecurity in U.S. households since 1995 to inform the operation of Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, as well as private food assistance programs and other government initiatives aimed at reducing food insecurity. Households are classified as food insecure, with low food security or very low food security, based on the number of conditions described in the survey questions that they report experiencing at some point over the past 12 months. Examples of experiences measured by the survey questions include: 

  • Worrying that food would run out before there was enough money to buy more. 
  • Not being able to afford to eat balanced meals. 
  • Cutting the size of meals or skipping meals because there was not enough money for food. 
  • Being hungry but not eating because there was not enough money for food. 
  • Relying on low-cost food to feed children because money to buy food was running out.  
  • The children were not eating enough because there wasn’t enough money for food. 

Looking back at trends in Maine’s household food insecurity rates over the past 20 years there is some good news. Three-year averages between 2003 and 2023 have improved overall, fluctuating from a high of 16.2% (2012-2014) to a low of 10.9% (2021-23). The prevalence of the most severe condition of very low food security has been higher in Maine than the national average for five of the seven, 3-year averages reported across this 20-year period. However, the rate of very low food security has consistently trended down between 2012-14 and 2021-23. 

Map the Meal Gap Annual Food Insecurity Estimates

Feeding America’s annual Map the Meal Gap Report provides more localized food insecurity estimates for individuals and children. The chart below shows the food insecurity rate for individuals overall and for children in Maine between 2012 and 2022. 

The most recent Map the Meal Gap (MMG) estimates (2022 data) find that one in eight people (13.1%) in Maine live in households that struggle to afford enough food to eat. Among children in Maine, one in five, or 18.7%, live in food insecure households – the highest rate of child food insecurity in New England.  

Looking at the past ten years of MMG data, the percentage of children living in food insecure households in Maine has also improved overall between 2012 and 2022. The rate of children living in food insecure households decreased by 22% between 2012 and 2022. The food insecurity rate for all individuals, overall, during that same period, decreased by 15.5% (2.5 percentage points). 

However, looking at food insecurity pre-pandemic (2019) to today, the broader overall trend of improvement has reversed, and food insecurity in Maine is on the rise. While child food insecurity was on a consistent downward trend, reduced by nearly 10 percentage points between 2012 (24.1%) and 2021 (14.6%), the rate increased dramatically (+28%) in just one year, between 2021 and 2022, to a rate higher than it was pre-pandemic in 2019. This is also the case for the overall individual food insecurity rate (Figure 4 below), which shows a lower rate in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019, followed by a 2022 rate that is higher than 2019.   

Food Insecurity Rates by County 

Food insecurity rates vary widely across Maine counties, as seen in Figure 1 below. The highest county-level rate of child food insecurity in Maine – and in New England – is 25.9% in Washington County. 

 

Understanding the Differences Between the USDA and Feeding America Food Insecurity Estimates

  USDA Household Food Insecurity Feeding America Map the Meal Gap Measure
Geography National, State data included as 3-year average, due to small sample size.  State, Congressional District, County  
Frequency of Report Annual report released in September, but the state-level data is reported as the latest 3-year average in each annual report  Annual report released in March, following the USDA report release the prior fall, with annual estimates at the local level. 
Level

Household and Child* 

*Does not include a child food insecurity measure at the state level

Individual

Child
Severity

Low Food Security 

Very Low Food Security

 Does not capture severity
Timeframe of food insecurity measure Last 12 months  Last 12 months 
Data Source Household survey data collected in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS). 

Combines CPS-FSS data with other national data available at the local level, which are determinants of food insecurity (i.e., unemployment, poverty, disability, homeownership, and median income), to estimate food insecurity rates at a more localized level than the USDA measure provides.
Demographic Sub-populations Not available at the state level  Not available at the local level for Maine because of the small sample size. 

Households Utilizing Food Pantries in Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Network 

The number of households served by food pantries in Good Shepherd Food Bank’s partner agency network illustrates a trend of increasing food hardship in Maine over the last few years. The monthly average number of households served by the network increased by 36% between 2022 and 2024, increasing most dramatically between 2023 and 2024.