DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has released its 2026 Food Insecurity in Pennsylvania report.
It found that the number of people struggling with food access has jumped by more than 50% since 2020, with nearly 300,000 Pennsylvanians losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since 2024.
“We’ve had a three-pronged crisis of challenges with inflation, food price inflation continues to be persistent, causing affordability challenges, but also drops in participation to the SNAP program,” said Central PA Food Bank Chief Strategy Officer Zach Zook.
“For every meal that a food bank provides, SNAP provides nine, so food banks can’t close the gap of SNAP,” said Feeding Pennsylvania CEO Julie Bancroft.
According to a USDA report published in 2025, nationwide household food insecurity was 13.7%.
“Food insecurity as of 2024 was at its highest level since the aftermath of the Great Recession, so since 2014, and we are not in a recessionary time frame,” Zook said. “To have these high rates of food insecurity with relatively historically low unemployment rates is a very concerning dynamic.”
Loft Community Partnership in Millersville, Lancaster County, says they saw their highest service week ever last week. The organization helps people in need get food.
People are experiencing higher levels of stress, higher levels of isolation, higher levels of anxiety and worry because of the fact that they’re unsure that they’ll be able to have enough food for their families,” said Executive Director Jenna Graeff.
The food bank’s report also found that child insecurity rates outpace overall rates in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
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