Food Insecurity: Virginia Must Be Doing Something Right. But What Is It?

Food insecurity in the United States. Source: Feeding America.

Food insecurity in the United States. Source: Feeding America.

by James A. Bacon

Question: Why does Virginia have the third lowest rate (tied with Massachusetts) of “food insecurity” among the 50 states? Given the Old Dominion’s low rates of unemployment and poverty and relatively high incomes, one would expect Virginians to be less at risk for going hungry. But look at the map above, based on Feeding America’s 2013 “Map the Meal Gap” project. There must be more to the story than the usual socio-economic factors….

Food insecurity is lower in Virginia counties than counties across the state line with comparable racial and socio-economic characteristics. Thus, the poor, predominantly white Appalachian counties of western Virginia have lower rates of food insecurity than the Appalachian counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia. Likewise, the poor, largely African-American counties in Virginia’s Southside tend to have less food insecurity than their counterparts in North Carolina.

Food security among children.

Food security among children.

The same pattern can be seen in food security for children, who live disproportionately in poor families. Indeed, eastern Virginia (and Maryland’s D.C. suburbs) stand out as one of three pockets nationally — the others are North Dakota and New Hampshire/Massachusetts — where children suffer the least food insecurity.

There appears to be something unique about Virginia, perhaps something arising from its policies and/or institutional arrangements. What that uniqueness might be, I don’t know.

Feeding America’s methodology adjusts for regional variations in the cost of food, so that’s not a factor. The report mentions Virginia only in passing:

Most states have counties where … the majority of food insecure people are likely ineligible for any federal food assistance. For example, there are 21 counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia where a majority (50% or more) of food insecure individuals are estimated to have incomes too high to be eligible for any assistance programs (above 185% of poverty)…

Lower-income households in highly affluent jurisdictions such as Northern Virginia are at greater risk. Because their incomes are high by national standards, they they don’t qualify for federal assistance. But the high cost of living in affluent localities may force difficult trade-offs between rent, transportation, food and other necessities.

“Loudoun, Virginia, has a lower child food insecurity rate (10%) than the national average,” observes the report. “There are an estimated 9,200 food insecure children, 72% of whom live in households with incomes greater than 185% of poverty.”

The implication: Virginia would have an even lower incidence of food insecurity if some counties weren’t so darned prosperous (and expensive) that thousands don’t qualify for food stamps.

That phenomenon makes Virginia’s low food-insecurity rate all the more difficult to explain. Why is the overall rate so low? We must be doing something right. If only we knew what it was!