The Food Access Research Atlas presents a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility, provides food access data for populations within census tracts, and offers census-tract-level data on food access that can be downloaded for community planning or research purposes.

Dataset is an overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility. This dataset provides food access data for populations within census tracts; and offers census-tract-level data on food access that can be used for community planning or research purposes.Data from USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Food Access Research Atlas, 2019. Last updated 4/27/2021.See also USDA map service at https://gisportal.ers.usda.gov/server/rest/services/FARA/FARA_2019/MapServer.

Presents a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility. Created by the USDA. Data as of 2011-2015 5 yr period averages. Metadata and current information available at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas

Data pulled from the USDA Food Research Atlas for 2019 Census Tracts designated as food deserts

The Food Access Research Atlas (FARA), developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), is a spatial dataset and mapping tool designed to analyze food access disparities. It provides census tract-level data on low-income and low-access areas, using metrics like proximity to supermarkets and vehicle availability. The dataset identifies regions where populations face barriers to affordable, healthy food, often termed "food deserts." FARA supports research, policy development, and community planning by offering customizable maps and downloadable data for U.S. census tracts. Key features include comparisons of food access between 2015 and 2019, alternative definitions of low-income thresholds, and geospatial APIs for integration into GIS systems. Unique aspects include contextual data on demographic factors (e.g., income, population density) and accessibility metrics, enabling nuanced analysis of food insecurity drivers. The tool also distinguishes between urban, suburban, and rural access challenges. Created to expand on earlier "Food Desert Locator" efforts, FARA aims to inform interventions addressing food system inequities. Its open-access data and user-friendly interface cater to researchers, policymakers, and local organizations seeking evidence-based solutions.

2015 USDA Food Desert areas for Florida defined by 2010 US Census tract. Based on LILATract_1And10 field census data. Developed by the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) as part of the Food Access Research Atlas.This service is intended for use with popups or at very large scales.This data layer is part of Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy web map produced by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness (DFNW).For technical assistance, contact the Florida's Roadmap to Healthy Living Administrator

Presents a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility. Created by the USDA. Data as of 2011-2015 5 yr period averages. Metadata and current information available at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas

Percentage of total population within a designated area that is identified as both “low income” and having “low access” to healthy food. Low income is defined as Low income is defined as having an annual family income at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty threshold. Low access is defined as population that is beyond 1 mile for urban areas or 10 miles for rural areas from a supermarket.

Note that there are many ways to measure food access for individuals and for neighborhoods, and many ways to define which areas are food deserts (neighborhoods that lack healthy food sources). Explore the USDA Food Access Research Atlas for more information: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/.

The United States Department of Agriculture publishes the Food Environment Atlas so researchers can study the interaction of access to healthy food options, demographic factors and economic indicators to inform policymakers.

Per the United States Department of Agriculture website, "The current version of the Food Environment Atlas has over 275 variables, including new indicators on access and proximity to a grocery store for sub populations; an indicator on the SNAP Combined Application Project for recipients of Supplemental Security Income (at the State level); and indicators on farmers' markets that report accepting credit cards or report selling baked and prepared food products. All of the data included in the Atlas are aggregated into an Excel spreadsheet for easy download. These data are from a variety of sources and cover varying years and geographic levels. The documentation for each version of the data provides complete information on definitions and data sources."

Some questions you might be able to answer include:

• What factors are correlated with food deserts?
• What kind of relationship exists between the price of food and the health of the population?
• Which communities are high risk for children in terms of access to healthy food?

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

This is a simple proportion analysis to determine the number of veterans who may be impacted by food scarcity in the United states by county. The population of veterans in each county (9L_VetPop2016_County) was used with the total population in each county (DataDownload3.18) to determine the proportion of veterans in each county. We assumed that veterans were just as likely as anyone else to be in food scarcity and multiplied the proportion of veterans in each county by the number of low access people in the county to determine the number of food insecure veterans by county. We also used statewide very low food secure percentage as a conservative estimate of the number of veterans affected by food scarcity.This dataset was not created to be a perfect representation of the exact number of food insecure veterans. In fact, it is a very rough calculation. However, this back of the envelope calculation shows that the number of food insecure veterans is likely very high. Using county level food access we find that up to 3 million veterans could be affected by low food access, as a conservative estimate, we use the state level "very low food security percentage" and find that a minimum of 200 thousand veterans are likely food insecure. For calculations see sheet "Calculations" in DataDownload3.18.xlsVeteran Population in counties of the United States.(9L_VetPOP2016_Count.csv)https://va.gov/vetdata/Veteran_Population.aspFood Insecurity By County (DataDownload3.18.xls)https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-environment-atlas/data-access-and-documentation-downloads/

After analyzing the map, there are some spatial concerns that need to be addressed. Most of the city has a trend of low median household income, and the least poor being in the central part of the city. The neighborhood of Jefferson in the eastern part of Denver is evidence of a food desert, as well as in the Lakeside suburb and Westwood (“Planting Seeds in Food Deserts: Neighborhood Gardens, Produce in Corner Stores” 2014) . One thing that really stood out to me was the lack of grocery stores in the eastern part of Denver, just bordering Aurora. This area is a food desert, and the average income of the area is below average. The wealthier neighborhoods are granted more sufficient access just near this part of Denver. We also see quality access to food towards the center of the city in the areas with lower income. The further we move outwards, the more and more the grocery stores start spreading out from a cluster form. From analyzing the map, it seems like living on the outskirts of Denver is where the lower income households will struggle with access to food

There are some very wealthy neighborhoods, specifically along Colorado Boulevard, where there are a lot of high quality grocery stores. This extensive street only has grocery stores located in the wealthy part of it. If we look north, towards the interstate, we see absolutely none located along Colorado Blvd. It is clear that the grocery stores were placed in the central part of Colorado Blvd, as opposed to the northern and southern parts where the average income is much lower. I believe this to be concrete evidence of a biased towards socioeconomic status.sources: “Planting Seeds in Food Deserts: Neighborhood Gardens, Produce in Corner Stores.” 2014. Accessed April 30. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14906833.

“USDA Economic Research Service - Food Access Research Atlas.” 2014. Accessed April 30. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas#.U2A99le0RPW.

This layer represents USDA Food Access Research Atlas data at the census tract geography. Low Income is defined as tracts with a poverty rate of 20% or higher, or tracts with median family income less than 80% of median family income of the state or metropolitan area. Low Access is defined as tracts where a significant number or share of residents is more than 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) from the nearest supermarket.http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspxFood accessLimited access to supermarkets, supercenters, grocery stores, or other sources of healthy and affordable food may make it harder for some Americans to eat a healthy diet. There are many ways to measure food store access for individuals and for neighborhoods, and many ways to define which areas are food deserts—neighborhoods that lack healthy food sources. Most measures and definitions take into account at least some of the following indicators of access:Accessibility to sources of healthy food, as measured by distance to a store or by the number of stores in an area.Individual-level resources that may affect accessibility, such as family income or vehicle availability.Neighborhood-level indicators of resources, such as the average income of the neighborhood and the availability of public transportation.In the Food Access Research Atlas, several indicators are available to measure food access along these dimensions. For example, users can choose alternative distance markers to measure low access in a neighborhood, such as the number and share of people more than half a mile to a supermarket or 1 mile to a supermarket. Users can also view other census-tract-level characteristics that provide context on food access in neighborhoods, such as whether the tract has a high percentage of households far from supermarkets and without vehicles, individuals with low income, or people residing in group quarters.Low-income neighborhoodsThe criteria for identifying a census tract as low income are from the Department of Treasury’s New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. This program defines a low-income census tract as any tract where:The tract’s poverty rate is 20 percent or greater; orThe tract’s median family income is less than or equal to 80 percent of the State-wide median family income; orThe tract is in a metropolitan area and has a median family income less than or equal to 80 percent of the metropolitan area's median family income.Low-access census tractsIn the Food Access Research Atlas, low access to healthy food is defined as being far from a supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store ("supermarket" for short). A census tract is considered to have low access if a significant number or share of individuals in the tract is far from a supermarket.In the original Food Desert Locator, low access was measured as living far from a supermarket, where 1 mile was used in urban areas and 10 miles was used in rural areas to demarcate those who are far from a supermarket. In urban areas, about 70 percent of the population was within 1 mile of a supermarket, while in rural areas over 90 percent of the population was within 10 miles (see Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Updated Estimates of Distance to Supermarkets Using 2010 Data). Updating the original 1- and 10-mile low-access measure shows that an estimated 18.3 million people in these low-income and low-access census tracts were far from a supermarket in 2010.Three additional measures of food access based on distance to a supermarket are provided in the Atlas:One additional measure applies a 0.5-mile demarcation in urban areas and a 10-mile distance in rural areas. Using this measure, an estimated 52.5 million people, or 17 percent of the U.S. population, have low access to a supermarket;A second measure applies a 1.0-mile demarcation in urban areas and a 20-mile distance in rural areas. Under this measure, an estimated 16.5 million people, or 5.3 percent of the U.S. population, have low access to a supermarket; andA slightly more complex measure incorporates vehicle access directly into the measure, delineating low-income tracts in which a significant number of households are located far from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. This measure also includes census tracts with populations that are so remote, that, even with a vehicle, driving to a supermarket may be considered a burden due to the great distance. Using this measure, an estimated 2.1 million households, or 1.8 percent of all households, in low-income census tracts are far from a supermarket and do not have a vehicle. An additional 0.3 million people are more than 20 miles from a supermarket.For each of the first three measures that are based solely on distance, a tract is designated as low access if the aggregate number of people in the census tract with low access is at least 500 or the percentage of people in the census tract with low access is at least 33 percent. For the final measure using vehicle availability, a tract is designated as having low vehicle access if at least one of the following is true:at least 100 households are more than ½ mile from the nearest supermarket and have no access to a vehicle; orat least 500 people or 33 percent of the population live more than 20 miles from the nearest supermarket, regardless of vehicle access.Methods used to assess distance to the nearest supermarket are the same for each of these measures. First, the entire country is divided into ½-km square grids, and data on the population are aerially allocated to these grids (see Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Updated Estimates of Distance to Supermarkets Using 2010 Data). Then, distance to the nearest supermarket is measured for each grid cell by calculating the distance between the geographic center of the ½-km square grid that contains estimates of the population (number of people and other subgroup characteristics) and the center of the grid with the nearest supermarket.Once the distance to the nearest supermarket is calculated for each grid cell, the estimated number of people or housing units that are more than 1 mile from a supermarket in urban tracts, or 10 miles in rural census tracts, is aggregated at the census-tract level (and similarly for the alternative distance markers). A census tract is considered rural if the population-weighted centroid of that tract is located in an area with a population of less than 2,500; all other tracts are considered urban tracts.Food desertsThe Food Access Research Atlas maps census tracts that are both low income (li) and low access (la), as measured by the different distance demarcations. This tool provides researchers and other users multiple ways to understand the characteristics that can contribute to food deserts, including income level, distance to supermarkets, and vehicle access.Additional tract-level indicators of accessVehicle availabilityA tract is identified as having low vehicle availability if more than 100 households in the tract report having no vehicle available and are more than 0.5 miles from the nearest supermarket. This corresponds closely to the 80th percentile of the distribution of the number of housing units in a census tract without vehicles at least 0.5 miles from a supermarket (the 80th percentile value was 106 housing units). This means that about 20 percent of all census tracts had more than 100 housing units that were 0.5 miles from a supermarket and without a vehicle. This indicator was applied to both urban and rural census tracts.Overall, 8.8 percent of all housing units in the United States do not have a vehicle, and 4.2 percent of all housing units are at least 0.5 mile from a store and without a vehicle. Vehicle availability is defined in the American Community Survey as the number of passenger cars, vans, or trucks with a capacity of 1-ton or less kept at the home and available for use by household members. The number of available vehicles includes those vehicles leased or rented for at least 1 month, as well as company, police, or government vehicles that are kept at home and available for non-business use.Whether a vehicle is available to a household for private use is an important additional indicator of access to healthy and affordable food. For households living far from a supermarket or large grocery store, access to a private vehicle may make accessing these retailers easier than relying on public or alternative means of transportation.Group quarters populationUsers may be interested in highlighting tracts with large shares of people living in group quarters. Group quarters are residential arrangements where an entity or organization owns and provides housing (and often services) for individuals residing in these buildings. This includes college dormitories, military quarters, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, residential treatment centers, and assisted living or skilled nursing facilities. These living arrangements frequently provide dining and food retail solely for their residents. While individuals living in these areas may appear to be far from a supermarket or grocery store, they may not truly experience difficulty accessing healthy and affordable food. Tracts in which 67 percent of individuals or more live in group quarters are highlighted.General tract characteristicsPopulation, tract totalGeographic level: census tractYear of data: 2010Definition: Total number of individuals residing in a tract.Data sources: Data are from the 2012 report, Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Updated Estimates of Distances to Supermarkets Using 2010 Data. Population data are reported at the block level from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. These data were aerially allocated down to ½-kilometer-square grids across the United States.Low-income tractGeographic level: census tractYear of data: 2010Definition: A tract with either a poverty rate of 20