Food insecurity in many large cities declined in 2021 following stimulus payments but peaked in 2022.
As economic activity recovered in 2021 after mass layoffs and strict restrictions on businesses to stop the spread of COVID-19, prices began to rise at the fastest rate on record. Between 2019 and 2023, food prices rose a whopping 25%, outpacing increases in the costs of housing, health care, clothing, and other items.
By the summer of 2022, inflation had peaked. Miami was one of the 10 most populous metropolitan areas that saw the steepest spikes in food insecurity during the analysis period, especially in 2022. Currently, inflation is lower than it was in 2020.
Houston stands out as having the highest food insecurity rate of any city in the country, at about 16% of residents as of April. The Texas city has been one of the hardest hit in the nation by inflation.
In other metro areas, food insecurity rates are below 2020 levels. In the Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles metro areas, food insecurity is down from levels recorded in August during the pandemic’s first year, when aid agencies were struggling to meet the demands of unemployed people reeling from the historically deep recession earlier this year.
Story editor: Alizah Salario; copy editor: Tim Bruns.
This story was originally published on Link2Feed and produced…
