Skip to main content
Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Food Security in the United States - Documentation

ERS Sponsors the Annual Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS)

The Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) is the source of national and State-level statistics on food insecurity used in USDA-ERS's annual reports on household food security. The CPS is a monthly labor force survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) for the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once each year, after answering the labor force questions, the same households are asked a series of questions (the Food Security Supplement) about food security, food expenditures, and use of food and nutrition assistance programs. Food security data have been collected using the CPS-FSS each year since 1995.

Data files

Annual public-use household-level CPS-FSS data files, along with replicate weights to support balanced repeated replication variance estimates, are available from 2010 to the present from the Census Bureau.

Release dates

CPS-FSS data are released approximately 9 months after the survey is completed, following quality assurance checks by the Census Bureau and ERS. Data are usually released in early September, except in years when data modifications require extra time for processing and review. Deviations from the early September release date will be posted on the ERS website.

National surveys that collect food security data using USDA food security survey modules

Several federally-funded surveys have incorporated one of USDA, ERS’s food security survey modules. This section provides information about each survey and directions for accessing the associated data files for research.

American Housing Survey (AHS)

In 2015 and 2019, the American Housing Survey (AHS) included the 30-day, 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. The AHS is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and conducted by the Census Bureau. The survey is the most comprehensive national housing survey in the United States. The survey includes information on housing costs for owners and renters, reasons for moving, health and safety hazards in the home, and use of housing counseling services. The AHS data and documentation are available from the Census Bureau.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Surveys

Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Birth Cohort of 2001 (ECLS-B)

The ECLS-B—sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 14,000 children born in 2001, following them from birth through kindergarten entry. Food security information was collected in parent surveys in select waves of the survey. The last wave of ECLS-B data was collected in 2007. Food security data are in the main data files available from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K)

The ECLS-K—sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 children from kindergarten (1998–99) through eighth grade. One purpose of the program was to provide data to test hypotheses about the effects of a wide range of family, school, community, and individual variables on children's development, early learning, and early performance in school.

Several waves of the ECLS-K included the Food Security Core Module in surveys of the parents of children in the study. Food security data were collected in the spring. Parent interviews were conducted when the children were in kindergarten (round 2, 1999), 3rd grade (round 5, 2002), and 5th grade (round 6, 2004). Parent interviews were again conducted in the fall when the children were in grade 8 (round 7, 2006). The final wave of data collected for this cohort was in 2007. 

Data on the food security of households with children in the ECLS-K are provided in the NCES public-use data for Rounds 5–7. The base year (round 2) Food Security File was prepared by ERS to provide corresponding food security data for households interviewed in round 2.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011)

Coming more than a decade after the inception of the ECLS-K, ECLS-K:2011 allows cross-cohort comparisons of two nationally representative kindergarten classes experiencing different policy, educational, and demographic environments. The ECLS-K:2011, also sponsored by NCES, followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 18,000 children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Several waves of the ECLS-K:2011 included the Food Security Core Module in surveys of the parents of children in the study. Two waves (3rd and 4th grade) collected only the 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module, excluding the 8 child food security items, while the remaining waves collected the full 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module. Food security data were collected in the parent interviews when the children were in kindergarten (Spring 2011), 1st grade (Spring 2012), 3rd grade (Spring 2014; Adult Food Security Survey Module), 4th grade (Spring 2015; Adult Food Security Survey Module) and 5th grade (Spring 2016).

Data on the food security of households with children in the ECLS-K:2011 are provided in the NCES public-use data.

National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)

USDA's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) is the first nationally representative survey of U.S. households to collect unique and comprehensive data about household food purchases and acquisitions. Detailed information was collected about foods purchased or otherwise acquired for consumption at home and away from home, including foods acquired through food and nutrition assistance programs. FoodAPS also included the 30-day, 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. More information, data access, and documentation are available on the ERS website.

Household Pulse Survey (HPS)

The Household Pulse Survey (HPS) is an interagency experimental data product designed to measure the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on U.S. households. Conducted by the Census Bureau in partnership with ERS and other Federal agencies, HPS has been collecting data since April 2020. The survey asks questions about how education, employment, food security, health, housing, social security benefits, household spending, stimulus payments, and transportation have been affected by the ongoing crisis.

The HPS questionnaire, documentation, public use data files, and statistics produced from the data are all available on the Census Bureau’s website.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)—administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)—is a comprehensive, longitudinal source of data on the costs and uses of health care and health insurance coverage in the United States. The survey consists of a household component and an insurance component. The household component contains information on a nationally representative sample of approximately 12,000 families and individuals, drawn from a subsample of households that participated in the previous year’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The household component of MEPS includes information on the demographic characteristics, health conditions and health care, income, food assistance program participation, and employment status for each person in the household. Beginning in 2016, the household component also includes U.S. Adult Food Security Survey Module. The insurance component contains information on health insurance plans offered to employees, based on a sample of private and public sector employers. For more information, see the MEPS web page.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations. NHANES is a major program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). NHANES includes the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module and can be used to understand linkages between food security and nutrition. The NHANES interview also includes demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related questions. The examination component consists of medical, dental, and physiological measurements, as well as laboratory tests administered by highly trained medical personnel. NHANES data and documentation are available at NCHS.

National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is the principal source of information on the health of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United States and is conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). In 2011, USDA began to sponsor the inclusion of the 10-item adult 30-day food security module on the NHIS. Given the extensive health information collected in the NHIS, these data are a rich source for examining both the effects of long-term health problems and disability on food insecurity, as well as the effects of food insecurity on more immediate health outcomes. The NHIS public-use family data file (available on the NCHS website) includes responses to each of the 10 food security items. The NCHS Survey Description document provides guidance for users on how to create food security scores that summarize adult food security status for the family, using the standard USDA food security classifications based on the 10 adult items.

National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH)

The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) provides data on multiple, intersecting aspects of children’s lives—including physical and mental health, access to quality health care, and the child’s family, neighborhood, school, and social context. The National Survey of Children's Health is funded and directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The public-use NSCH datafiles are available from the Census Bureau. In 2016, USDA began sponsoring a food insufficiency item in the NSCH. The NSCH offers valuable data to understand the relationship between food insufficiency and children with special health care needs in addition to other research relating food insufficiency and children’s well-being.

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Food Security Files

The PSID is an ongoing longitudinal survey, begun in 1968, of a representative sample of U.S. individuals and their families. The PSID is housed at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. USDA sponsors the inclusion of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module in many of the Family Surveys and Child Development Supplements. Data and documentation are available from the PSID website.  Food security information was collected in the following surveys:

  • Child Development Supplement (CDS-I and CDS-2014, 2019, and 2020)—In 1997, PSID supplemented its core data collection with data on parents and their 0- to 12-year-old children, the data called the Child Development Supplement (CDS). The 1997 PSID-CDS survey and the CDS-2014, 2019, and 2020 surveys of the children's primary caregivers included the questions from the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module.
  • PSID 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021 Family Surveys—The PSID 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021 family surveys included the 18 questions from the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module.

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a household-based survey designed as a continuous series of national panels. The SIPP attempts to provide accurate and comprehensive information about the income and program participation of individuals and households in the United States. The SIPP has collected food security data since 1996, but the survey was redesigned in 2014. Since 2014, SIPP has consistently collected the standard 6-item Short Form Food Security Survey Module, with an annual reference period. The SIPP data files, available from the Census Bureau, also contain basic demographic, economic, and social characteristics data for each member of interviewed households.

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD)

The Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) was an annual survey, beginning in 1997, of households that had been interviewed previously in the 1992 and 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) panels. The SPD was designed specifically to monitor and assess outcomes of welfare program changes that started in 1996. It included questions on a broad array of topics including income, employment, use of food and nutrition assistance programs, and receipt of cash welfare. Beginning in 1998 and continuing in subsequent years, the SPD included the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module.

The SPD food security status files (available for 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002) contain summary food security status information for households interviewed in the SPD. The food security status variables were calculated by ERS based on responses to the questions in the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module included in the SPD. The food security status files are matched to the main SPD data files for the respective years at the household level and are intended to be used in conjunction with those files. The main SPD data files (available from the Census Bureau) contain data on demographic, economic, and social characteristics of households and household members—focusing on eligibility for and use of public assistance programs.