Hunger in NYC
No New Yorker should have to worry where their next meal will come from.
The need for food assistance in New York City is staggeringly high. According to the latest Map the Meal Gap data from Feeding America, 1 in 5 New Yorkers is experiencing food insecurity, up from 1 in 6 the previous year and 1 in 8 in 2019. This increase in the number of New Yorkers who are turning to food assistance to put meals on the table comes amid an ongoing affordability crisis and as historic cuts to federal food assistance programs made last summer as part of H.R. 1 are continuing to go into effect with a devastating impact on our neighbors. When the cuts take full effect, New York City is at risk of losing the equivalent of more than 250 million meals annually—a chilling prospect in a city where far too many of our neighbors are already struggling to put food on the table.
With 46% of working-aged New Yorkers struggling to afford high costs for food, childcare, and housing, more of our neighbors are visiting food pantries as a financial management tool. Food can be viewed as an elastic expense: You can’t “cut down” on rent or hospital bills, but you can visit a food pantry to stretch a limited budget further. A household may experience food insecurity for a brief period of time, for example, while a parent is between jobs, or for much longer, such as a senior living on a fixed income. Nearly 80% of adults making below the True Cost of Living in New York City are working, a stark reminder that wages are not keeping up with rising costs.
In response to the high need we are seeing, City Harvest is stepping up to provide even more nutritious food for all of our fellow New Yorkers who are already depending on us today and for those who may turn to our partner food pantries or our Mobile Markets in the months to come.
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46%
of working-aged households in New York City are struggling to make ends meet
That means that nearly half of working-aged households do not make enough to afford basic expenses like food, rent, utilities, and medical bills, according to the True Cost of Living report released by The Fund for New York City.
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1.6 M
New Yorkers are experiencing food insecurity
Too many of our neighbors are experiencing food insecurity, particularly in the marginalized communities that have been disproportionately harmed by decades of policy inequities and systemic failures and that City Harvest has long served. No New Yorker—no matter who they are or where they come from—should have to worry about where their next meal will come from.
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1 in 4
children in New York City is experiencing food insecurity
While economic challenges hit every corner of New York City, the effect on families with children has been particularly pronounced. This year’s Map the Meal Gap report showed that an additional 50,000 New York City children are experiencing food insecurity than the year before.
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80%
of NYC adults who cannot afford their basic needs are working
The fact that so many working New Yorkers need to rely on food pantries to put meals on the table is a stark reminder that wages are not keeping pace with rising costs, a reflection of the extreme unaffordability of our city.
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45 M+
visits to NYC soup kitchens, food pantries, and community food programs last year
There were over 1 million more visits to NYC soup kitchens and food pantries last year compared to the peak of the pandemic.
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84%
increase in monthly visits to NYC food pantries and soup kitchens since 2019
According to a City Harvest analysis of FeedNYC data, average monthly visits to soup kitchens and food pantries across the city are up 84% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
