Nearly 78 percent of U.S. counties received food boxes during the Farmers to Families Food Box Program

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Congress passed legislation to provide USDA with additional funding for food and nutrition assistance programs in 2020. That included the creation of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program (Food Box Program), which provided 177.6 million food boxes from May 2020 through May 2021. A recent USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report examined the likelihood that a county received a box during the Food Box Program based on a handful of country characteristics that help indicate levels of food hardship or need of its residents. The program contracted with suppliers to buy domestically produced agricultural goods, which were repackaged, sent to nonprofit organizations, and distributed to families in need. Results showed that among the 3,233 counties and Territories, nearly 78 percent received at least one food box during the program’s duration. Per capita, American Samoa and Puerto Rico (both not included in the map) received the most boxes (about 2,272 and 1,534 food boxes per 1,000 persons, respectively), followed by Mississippi (943), Oklahoma (898), Vermont (776), and Florida (775). Counties with larger populations and higher unemployment rates were more likely to receive food boxes throughout the program’s operation. This chart appears in the ERS report, County Characteristics Associated With Receipt of Food Boxes Through The Farmers to Families Food Box Program, published in April 2025.