St. Lawrence County Hunger Facts
19.7% of St. Lawrence County residents live at or below the federal poverty level, making the County one of the poorest in the state. Only Bronx County, at 29.5% is significantly higher.
Source: US Census data
Child hunger:
51% of the County's children qualify for a free or reduced-price school lunch and breakfast.
7,902 children receive a free or reduced-price lunch at school.
Only 3,762 children, or 41% of those eligible, also receive a free breakfast at school.
Only 13% of those eligible receive a free lunch during the summer months when school is out.
Source: Hunger Solutions NY
Food insecurity:
15,290 County residents, or 13.6% of the population, are food insecure
5,850 children live in food insecure households in St. Lawrence County
Of the food insecure households, 34% have incomes too high for them to qualify for government assistance.
Source: Feeding America Map the Meal Gap
Food deserts are defined as census tracts where the community is both low-income and at least one-third of the population lives more than 10 miles from a grocery store. Using this definition, St. Lawrence County has eight census tracts that are food deserts. 6,862 people live in these food deserts.
Source: USDA
More than 15,000 County residents are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called Food Stamps).
Source: St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services
From http://gardenshare.org/sites/default/files/hunger%20facts.pdf
