Food insecurity is rising in Houston

Zoom in: The 18 counties served by the Houston Food Bank had a collective food insecurity rate of 15.4% in 2022, the latest year for which data is available.

• That's compared with 13% in 2021.

Of those counties, San Jacinto and Trinity had the highest rates of food insecurity at 18.8%.

• Harris County had a rate of 16.4% but contains the largest number of people (nearly 777,000) who are food insecure in the region.
• Feeding America estimates it would take $540 million to meet Harris County residents' food needs.

The big picture: The state's food insecurity rate rose to 16.4% in 2022, up from 13.7% in 2021. That means 1 in 6 Texans face hunger.

• About 1.7 million children — or 22.8% of kids — face hunger in Texas.

State of play: There are stark gaps depending on race, with more than 1 in 4 Black people in the Houston region facing food insecurity.

• By comparison, 1 in 10 white people are food insecure.

Stunning stat: Nationally, food secure individuals reported spending $3.99 per meal or $363.09 per month in 2022. Even adjusting for inflation, that's a 3% increase from the previous year.

The bottom line: Rising food prices and the increasing cost of living have made it harder for people to be able to afford food.