New Hampshire saw a 44% increase in food insecurity between 2021 and 2022, according to a new report from Feeding America, a national anti-hunger nonprofit. They also found that more than 135,200 Granite Staters were food insecure in 2022 — that's nearly one in ten state residents.
Experts define food insecurity as not having consistent access to enough nutritious food to lead a healthy life.
The report said 13.4% of children statewide were food insecure in 2022, a 4.9% increase from the previous year. The issue was most acute in Coos County, where the childhood food insecurity rate was 21.1%.
Local anti-hunger advocates say they are still seeing high demand for food assistance, as stagnant wages and the cost of living chips away at many people’s budgets. Eileen Liponis, executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, said her organization saw a 9% increase in meals distribution from April 2023 to April 2024.
“We have less strain from COVID, but we have more strain from inflation,” she said.
She said people experiencing food insecurity can visit more than 400 food distribution sites across the state. She also encouraged people to apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as food stamps or SNAP, which provides qualifying individuals extra money to spend on groceries.
Karen Hebert, who oversees New Hampshire’s SNAP program, said they’re also hearing from more people who need help paying for food.
“On the last day of April of 2024, we had 42,385 cases — that's households — who were receiving SNAP benefits,” she said. “That is up 4.9% from last year at this time.”
Applications for SNAP benefits also increased by 7% in the same time period, she added.
She said some of that growth could be due to more awareness around SNAP benefits in New Hampshire, including an expanded outreach campaign run by the New Hampshire Food Bank.
Hebert said the state does not track food insecurity, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that rates were lower in New Hampshire than the Feeding America program reported. She said it's helpful to look at a wide range of data on the topic.
More information on SNAP benefits can be found here and a map of the Food Banks’ distribution sites here.