Jefferson County, Mississippi, is home to 7,297 people, and 2,870 of them are hungry. The county’s food insecurity rate, 38 percent, is the highest in the nation, according to the latest Map the Meal Gap report.
The report, released last week by the hunger relief organization Feeding America, collates data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Current Population Survey to stitch together a portrait of food insecurity at the state and county levels. An interactive map tracks the percentage of food-insecure households, average meal cost, residents’ eligibility for assistance programs, and the windfall that would be required to cinch up the gap between meals families need and what they can afford. Nationwide, food-insecure individuals are about $17.38 short of meeting their minimum nutritional needs each week.
