Our Ranking of the Hungriest States

To compile our ranking, we assigned points for each state, plus the District of Columbia, based on how it performed on the U.S. Department of Agriculture ranking of hunger, with 51 points for the worst state, Mississippi, and 1 point for the best state, North Dakota. We then made the same assignments based on Census calculations of the median family income in each state.

In order to determine which states have a disproportionate hunger problem, versus those that are merely poor, we then squared their hunger points and divided by the poverty points. The result was a list diverse in incomes, region, and political leaning, but uniform in one regard: The top offenders all fail to properly feed people in relation to the wealth they generate. More than states that are merely poor (Kentucky ranked 48th for poverty, yet was solidly in the middle of the pack for hunger), these are the states with clear policy issues that render them unable to translate resources into full bellies.

Click here to learn why some states are hungrier than others. And read Sasha Abramsky’s report on the lives of the new blue-collar hungry across America.

Here is the complete ranking, beginning with Colorado, the state with the most disproportionate hunger problem, and ending with North Dakota, the state doing the best job of feeding its population:

1. Colorado
2. Alaska
3. Oregon
4. Connecticut
5. Utah
6. Nevada
7. Vermont
8. Maine
9. Missouri
10. Oklahoma
11. Texas
12. Georgia
13. Ohio
14. Washington
15. Mississippi
16. Iowa
17. Alabama
18. California
19. Kansas
20. Arizona
21. Arkansas
22. South Carolina
23. Florida
24. Michigan
25. New Mexico
26. Rhode Island
27. Tennessee
28. District of Columbia
29. Maryland
30. Minnesota
31. New York
32. Montana
33. West Virginia
34. North Carolina
35. Kentucky
36. Pennsylvania
37. Illinois
38. New Hampshire
39. Indiana
40. Massachusetts
41. South Dakota
42. New Jersey
43. Nebraska
44. Delaware
45. Wisconsin
46. Idaho
47. Virginia
48. Louisiana
49. Hawaii
50. Wyoming
51. North Dakota

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