Run on Numbers: Food deserts are on the rise in the US

By Corrie Kruger | Published Aug 8, 2023

One of the key components of someone’s risk of poverty is their location. Regarding many aspects of life, location is everything, especially when it comes to the accessibility to food resources. A food desert is an area in which someone does not have close access to a food source, such as a supermarket. In urban areas, the US Department of Agriculture considers a food desert an area with no ready access to a store with fresh and nutritious food options within one mile. In rural America, a food desert is defined as 10 miles or more from the nearest market. Unfortunately, food deserts are not few and far between – “it’s estimated there are more than 23 million people, more than half of them low-income, live in food deserts”.