Arizona: Local Impact
Hunger Statistics in Arizona:
According to this latest data, 14.4% of Arizonans—about one in seven people—experienced food insecurity, while 18.4% of children lacked reliable access to enough food. (Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap 2025, based on 2023 estimates.)
That child food insecurity rate represents an estimated 428,098 Arizona kids (18.4% of the 2023 child population)—enough to fill Mountain America Stadium in Tempe (53,599 seats) about eight times.
About 1,067,120 people across Arizona face hunger. This challenge exists in every county, affecting urban, suburban, and rural communities alike.
Many households experiencing food insecurity earn too much to qualify for federal nutrition programs and instead rely on Arizona food banks and their network of local partner agencies to meet basic food needs.
Partner Stories:
Diocesan Council for the Society St Vincent dePaul Diocese Phoenix
With support from Nourishing Neighbors, SVdP is able to step in at critical moments and change the course of families’ lives. When a single mother of three called a neighborhood pantry with little food and no way to pick up assistance, a volunteer delivered a food box to her home and learned she was $740 short on rent. Thanks to available resources, her family not only received food—but emergency rent assistance that prevented homelessness.
United Food Bank
Support from Nourishing Neighbors helps ensure Arizona neighbors have access to nutritious food during some of life’s most difficult moments. Hatti, a senior living on a fixed income, calls the help she receives from United Food Bank and the Hope International Pantry a blessing. She loves cooking from scratch—fried okra, macaroni and cheese, and yams—just as her grandmother taught her, and she takes pride in making sure her grandchildren never go without meals. Access to pantry food helps her do just that.
