In the United States, hunger is no longer the exception. It has once again become a systemic, pervasive phenomenon—quiet but widespread—affecting major cities and rural areas with equal force. Once held in check by a robust network of public assistance and community-based support, it is now resurfacing as resources dwindle and the social safety net continues to recede.
According to data released by Feeding America, the country’s largest hunger-relief organization, more than 49 million people—including over 13 million children—relied on a food bank at least once in 2023. That same year, approximately 80 percent of affiliated food banks reported stable or rising demand compared to 2022. The trend has continued into the first half of 2025, with particularly sharp increases in demand across suburban and rural areas.
At the same time, the public system has scaled back its capacity to respond. The new federal budget has significantly reduced funding for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which remains the primary mechanism for food support among low-income households. Along with reduced monthly benefits, the program has adopted stricter eligibility requirements, excluding an increasingly large segment of the adult population—including many low-wage and part-time workers.
In parallel, several emergency programs introduced during the pandemic have been suspended, including government-supplied food distributions to local food banks and direct purchasing arrangements with farmers and producers. As funding dried up, millions of pounds of planned food supplies for 2025 were canceled or simply never delivered.
The consequences are evident nationwide. In numerous cities and counties, local food banks have been forced to scale back operations—reducing distribution frequency from weekly to biweekly, and shrinking the size of food packages distributed to families. What used to be enough to last several days now often covers just a fraction of basic needs.
What began as a stopgap strategy to manage temporary shortfalls is increasingly becoming the new normal. Smaller organizations, operating with limited reserves, are now forced to prioritize aid, focusing their limited resources on the most vulnerable populations: children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Feeding America estimates that an additional $6 billion in funding would be required in 2025 alone to meet the growing demand for food assistance across the country. Yet the trend points in the opposite direction: federal support continues to decline, and private philanthropy—however committed—is not equipped to replace the scale and consistency of government funding.
In the nation’s most fragile communities, hunger is becoming an everyday reality. It doesn’t arrive with the urgency of a natural disaster, but reveals itself in smaller, relentless ways: missed meals, rationed groceries, medical expenses postponed to afford milk or bread. A downward spiral that affects those who were already living on the edge, now left without options.
Without a dramatic policy shift, the emergency food system faces the risk of collapse. And in the United States, hunger may cease to be the exception—and instead become the rule
