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3h ago

NY Fed Finds Remarkable Rise in Food Insecurity Among Lower‑Income Households

The increase in food hardship is tied to deeper pessimism and could widen the divide between households that gained from asset growth and those that cannot afford basics.

A customer shops for produce at an H-E-B grocery store on May 11, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Produce is checked for freshness before being distributed at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in Industry, California, on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
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Overview

  • The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published the findings on May 27 using February 2026 Survey of Consumer Expectations data compared with 2020 and 2025 results.
  • The survey shows clear jumps in hardship: 10% of households reported not having enough food in February 2026 versus 4% in June 2020, SNAP receipt rose to 17.9% from 10.6%, food donations rose to 15.8% from 10.6%, and 36.8% used savings to cover expenses versus 21.8% in 2020.
  • The rises were largest for nonwhite, lower-income and lower-educated households and for families with children, according to New York Fed researchers.
  • Researchers link these household strains to growing pessimism and lower job‑finding expectations, which helps explain why consumer sentiment is low even as unemployment and household net wealth look healthy.
  • The report points to practical consequences: higher demand for food banks, pressure on household budgets and the potential for policy attention to SNAP rules, benefit expirations and inflation-driven cost shocks to affect future affordability and spending.