Which states have the lowest child hunger rates in 2025?
Executive summary
Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap and USDA-compiled state data show child food insecurity varies widely; national child food insecurity was 19.2% in 2023 per Feeding America’s child map [1], and USDA/ERS reports provide state-level prevalence based on combined 2021–2023 data [2]. Available sources explicitly name low-rate states historically (e.g., North Dakota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire) but 2025-specific ranked state lists are reported by Feeding America’s 2023 map and coverage in outlets like Axios, not a single tidy “2025 lowest states” list in these search results [1] [3].
1. What the authoritative datasets actually measure — and why that matters
Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap reports the “child food insecurity rate,” defined as the share of children living in food‑insecure households, and gives a nationwide child rate of 19.2% for 2023 [1]. The USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) provides state‑level prevalence estimates, combining multiple years (2021–2023) to improve reliability at the state level; ERS materials are the statistical backbone cited by Map the Meal Gap [2]. These measures are about food insecurity, not a clinical diagnosis of hunger, and methodology choices (three‑year pooling, definitions, small‑area estimation) can shift state rankings modestly [2].
2. Which states have been shown at the low end in recent public reporting
Multiple sources and past reports name states that historically appear among the lowest child food insecurity rates: North Dakota and Massachusetts repeatedly show up as low‑rate examples in nonprofit reporting [4] [5], and a Wikipedia summary citing older data lists North Dakota, Minnesota, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts as low as of 2012 [6]. Feeding America’s interactive Map the Meal Gap is the most recent public tool for state and county estimates; it should be used to read off current low‑rate states directly because static lists in secondary sources can be out of date [1].
3. Recent journalism and maps point to concentrated county extremes, not just states
Axios’ May 2025 coverage using Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap called out counties with the highest childhood food insecurity and emphasized the spatial concentration of extremes — for example Hancock County, GA and Perry County, AL among the worst — illustrating that local variation can be more important than state averages [3]. That same reporting underscores that using state averages can mask high‑hunger pockets within otherwise low‑rate states [3].
4. Why you may see different “lowest states” lists across outlets
Different organizations cite different years and methods: nonprofit overviews (Save the Children, One Initiative) reference past percentages (e.g., North Dakota’s 6% county rate or 9.8% state figure in earlier years) and may use older datasets or single‑year comparisons [4] [5]. Wikipedia pulls historic summaries and may not reflect the latest Map the Meal Gap or ERS three‑year state estimates [6]. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap and USDA/ERS are the primary, methodical sources to prioritize for 2023–2025 comparisons [1] [2].
5. What the numbers mean for policy and local action
Feeding America and USDA materials emphasize that millions of children are affected — Feeding America cites 19.2% child food insecurity in 2023 and USDA reports nearly 14 million children facing food insecurity in later summaries cited by child‑hunger organizations — and that program eligibility, state policy, and school meals influence those rates [1] [7] [8]. Journalistic coverage warns that proposed cuts to programs like SNAP could worsen the picture [3].
6. How to get the current, state‑by‑state “lowest” ranking for 2025
Available reporting points you to two authoritative tools: Feeding America’s interactive Map the Meal Gap for child food insecurity by state and county [1] and USDA‑ERS state‑level prevalence tables [2]. Because the search results here do not include a single 2025‑dated ranked list of “lowest child hunger states,” consult those primary datasets directly to extract the latest ranked order [1] [2].
Limitations and caveats: these sources use “food insecurity” as the operational measure rather than a clinical hunger metric, estimates are sensitive to methodology and year pooling, and some secondary or older summaries (Wikipedia, advocacy blogs) report historic low‑rate states but do not replace the current interactive data from Feeding America or ERS [6] [5] [1] [2].