Methodology

Data confidence labels

• Official — Direct from published federal releases (national USDA ERS food security, USDA FNS SNAP totals).
• Derived — Calculated from official national data plus published state benchmarks (most state food insecurity rates).
• Estimated — Modeled or provisional (2025 figures, Pulse Survey blends, county drill-downs).

Hardship Index formula

Each state receives a 0–100 score: 40% food insecurity (normalized), 40% below-ALICE percentage (normalized), 20% SNAP participation index (normalized). Higher scores indicate greater relative hardship.

Primary sources

• USDA ERS — Household Food Security
• USDA FNS — SNAP Data
• United For ALICE
• U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey

Update process

Data is curated into JSON/TypeScript datasets and rebuilt as a static site. Run npm run refresh-data to validate datasets, then npm run build and deploy.