More Americans are going hungry now than at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, according to a study.
The study recorded a “remarkable increase in food security” and found that 10 percent of families were missing meals for lack of food. In 2020, just 4 percent of households were missing meals.
The development comes amid high gas prices, caused in part by the war with Iran, and rising cost of living.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York unveiled its report in Liberty Street Economics, drawing on the February edition of its Survey of Consumer Expectations. The survey, along with two reports from 2020 and one from October 2025, was used to study and compare “household financial stress and food insufficiency”.
An analysis of the February survey by NPR revealed that food insecurity levels were higher this year than during the summer of 2020.
In addition to revealing that around 10 percent of families reported missing meals in the February study, it found that nearly 16 percent of respondents relied on food donations. Among families earning less than $50,000, nearly 20 percent were forced to skip meals or go without.
Conversely, in 2020, just 4 percent of households reported missing meals, including less than 7 percent of families earning less than $50,000.
Amy Breitmann, who runs the Golden Harvest Food Bank in Augusta, Georgia, says that she has seen a growing number of families and children in need of food firsthand.
“We have some distributions where people are sitting in a 2-to-3-mile line the night before a distribution starts,” Breitmann told NPR. “They’re sleeping in their cars.”
Meanwhile, Nicole Williams, the CEO of the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, says that her service is moving to a larger building to accommodate increased needs. The food bank serves 12 counties across the state.
“Food insecurity could be your next-door neighbor,” Williams said to NPR. “When gas costs a little bit more, or food costs a little bit more, or they have a repair on their car or a medical bill, that takes away what they might be using to spend on food.”
The survey was conducted before the war with Iran began on February 28, which caused a spike in gas prices. At the start of February, gas prices sat at an average of $2.92 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.
By March 1, they had rocketed to an average of $3.70. By the start of May, gas prices had reached an average of $4.50 per gallon.
Breitmann told NPR that a rise in gas prices is putting an even greater strain on Americans’ wallets and forcing them to cut back on food.
“If you’re adding on another $100 to your budget a month just to put gas in your car to get to work or drop your kids at school and whatever they need their car for, where is that $100 coming from?” she asked. “Most typically, they’re having to pull it from the grocery budget.”
The New York Fed survey also found that a growing number of people were relying on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Nearly 18 percent of families surveyed received SNAP benefits, up from 10.6 percent in 2020, NPR reported. More than 38 percent of lower-income families are receiving SNAP benefits, which is an increase from around 22 percent six years ago.
The report suggested that the survey supports the notion of a K-shaped economy, which suggests that consumption growth in recent years has been driven largely by higher-income and college-educated households. Meanwhile, lower-income households have seen “fewer gains.”
According to The New York Fed, there are “high and growing levels of net wealth,” which have been fueled by rising stock prices, near-peak home equity levels and reductions in mortgage payments.
However, the bottom of the K-shape is reflective of a “significant share” of middle and lower-income Americans experiencing “elevated levels of economic uncertainty and financial hardship.”
