This research was conducted with input and guidance from the Hunger Free San Diego advisory board, a collaboration of agencies facilitated by San Diego Hunger Coalition.

1 in 4 people in San Diego County is nutrition insecure.

San Diego Hunger Coalition estimates that, as of December 2023, 1 in 4 (24%) San Diegans experience nutrition insecurity, or are unable to provide three, nutritious meals per day for themselves and/or their families.

Out of the 795,000 total people estimated to be nutrition insecure in San Diego County, 204,000 of them are children, 163,000 are older adults (age 60+), and 135,000 of them are living with disabilities.

Food Assistance: The hunger relief sector provided 25 million meals in food assistance in December.

In December 2023, the hunger relief sector in San Diego County provided more than 25M million meals across all programs, meeting 73% of the estimated need for food assistance.

Of the 25M meals that were provided in December, 14.5M meals came from CalFresh, followed by school meals, food banks and pantries, the WIC program, and meals for older adults. The pie chart below shows the breakdown in more detail.

Meal Gap: Another 9.5M meals would have been needed for a nutrition secure region

Despite the million of meals that came from food assistance, he county was still short by 8.5M meals in December. With the end of all pandemic-era food assistance programs, such as Pandemic EBT, a meal gap between 8M-10M meals has been typical.

Looking ahead, the permanent Summer EBT program will have a major impact on the county’s food assistance output in summer months starting in 2024. Hunger Coalition estimates that Summer EBT will provide between 1-2M monthly meals to families in need starting next summer, making up some of the meals lost when school is not in session.

The Hunger Coalition has also identified an additional 221,000 people who are likely eligible for CalFresh but not yet enrolled, showing great potential to reduce the 2024 meal gap by increasing CalFresh participation. Recent enrollment data also show that the county is making significant ground on CalFresh enrollment, as there are now almost 20,000 more people enrolled than there were in Sept. 2023. Enrolling all eligible families is the best way to decrease hunger and mitigate the effects of the loss of the temporary federal programs as providers struggle to keep up with the increased need. For more information on where likely eligible populations are and for CalFresh utilization numbers, please visit www.sdhunger.org/maps-tables.

Nutrition Security and Equity

Nutrition insecurity disproportionately impacts those who are Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. The nutrition insecurity rates of these communities were all above the average.

  • 31% of the Native population

  • 19% of the White population

  • 21% of the Asian population

  • 33% of the Hispanic/Latinx population (across all nationalities)

  • 36% of the Black population

Additional analysis of the nutrition insecure population shows that Hispanic/Latino people make up 33% of the county population, yet they constitute 50% of the nutrition insecure population, which is the largest disparity by race/ethnicity in our region.

Methodology

These estimates come from SDHC’s analysis of the estimated population at risk of nutrition insecurity. We define this population as households with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) ($62,000 for a family of 4). For the meal gap calculations, we track food assistance data gathered from local agencies and nonprofit partners, with ongoing recommendations from the Hunger Free San Diego Advisory Board. Our detailed methodology can be found at the top of this page.