Houston's food insecurity rate is rising

Texas has passed California in the percentage of the population that is food insecure, per a new report from Feeding America.

Why it matters: Food insecurity has been rising nationwide and in Texas since the Great Recession, but about half of the people who struggle to pay for meals don't qualify for federal assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

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.

Sign up for Axios Houston for free.