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Associations Between Long-Term Poverty and Food Insecurity at the Census Tract Level in the United States
Ryan Ramphul1, Gundersen Craig2, Tracey Farrigan3
1Department of Epidemiology, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX.
Public Health Nutrition
|July 23, 2026
Summary
Long-term poverty exposure significantly increases food insecurity rates in U.S. census tracts. Understanding historical disadvantage is crucial for identifying at-risk communities.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Sociology
- Geographic Analysis
Background:
- Food insecurity remains a significant public health challenge in the United States.
- Understanding the spatial and temporal determinants of food insecurity is critical for effective intervention.
- Previous research has highlighted the link between poverty and food insecurity, but long-term, geographically specific analyses are less common.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between sustained exposure to poverty and food insecurity at the census tract level across the U.S.
- To quantify the impact of different durations of poverty on local food insecurity rates.
- To identify geographic areas with a high burden of food insecurity due to historical disadvantage.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study utilizing nationwide U.S. census tract data.
- Spatial error models (SEM) were employed to estimate food insecurity rates, adjusting for rurality-urbanicity.
- Data included food insecurity, long-term poverty status (Persistent Poverty Since 1990, Enduring Poverty Since 1980, Enduring Poverty Since 1970), and rural-urban classification (RUCA codes).
Main Results:
- Census tracts with persistent poverty since 1990 showed 7.2 percentage points higher food insecurity rates.
- Enduring poverty since 1980 and 1970 were associated with 7.1 and 6.3 percentage points higher rates, respectively.
- Even when categorized exclusively, long-term poverty tracts exhibited significantly elevated food insecurity (p < 0.001 for all categories).
Conclusions:
- Long-term poverty exposure is a robust predictor of elevated food insecurity at the census tract level.
- The findings emphasize the necessity of incorporating historical measures of socioeconomic disadvantage in food security assessments.
- Tract-level analysis is valuable for pinpointing communities disproportionately affected by food insecurity due to persistent poverty.
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