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Inflation hasn’t increased US food insecurity overall, according to our new tracker

That’s the title of a new article Sam Polzin and I wrote for The Conversation.

Here’s an excerpt:

Grocery prices soared by 11.8% in 2022 – the swiftest pace since the early 1980s. Rapid inflation is, naturally, leading to concerns that it’s getting harder for Americans to put food on the table.

Indeed, Feeding America, a nonprofit that supports and connects roughly 60,000 food banks and pantries nationwide, has said that at least half of its members are seeing more demand for their services. And many journalists are reporting about struggling parents waiting in long lines for free food.

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The data we’re collecting ourselves, as well as the information that we’ve compiled from other sources, including the Census Bureau, isn’t yet reflecting a sharp uptick in households without enough to eat. U.S. food insecurity has remained at troubling and yet relatively flat levels.

You can read the whole article here.

Or, if you want to play around with the data dashboard Sam created that compiles multiple measures of food insecurity over time, click here.