Nearly half of Central Virginia households struggled to keep food on the table over the past year, according to a new study that found 45% of families in the region served by Feed More experienced food insecurity, compared to 42% statewide. Among Virginia households with children, the rate climbed even higher, to 51%.
The findings come from the inaugural Virginia Hunger Study, which surveyed more than 5,600 Virginia adults using the same 18-question food-security survey the USDA has long relied on, according to Axios. NORC at the University of Chicago conducted the survey in May, asking participants about their experiences over the previous 12 months. The study was commissioned by the Virginia Department of Social Services along with hunger-relief organizations across the state, including Feed More, which provides resources for people experiencing food insecurity or grocery cost pain in Central Virginia.
The numbers point to a squeeze that goes well beyond households already classified as food insecure. Grocery prices were cited as a major financial strain by 87% of food-insecure households statewide and 88% in Central Virginia, the same Axios report found. Even among food-secure Central Virginia households, 46% said the high cost of groceries was causing significant financial strain — a sign that the pressure is spreading to families who haven't yet crossed into food insecurity themselves.
A Safety Net That Isn't Catching Everyone
Despite the scale of the need, the study found that only 27% of food-insecure households statewide and in Central Virginia were enrolled in SNAP, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That gap between need and enrollment sits alongside a broader shift in federal food assistance: SNAP participation in Virginia has declined by more than 110,000 people since H.R. 1 was enacted in 2025, according to No Kid Hungry.
State lawmakers have responded with new funding. The 2026 Virginia state budget includes $17.6 million for increased per-meal breakfast reimbursement for qualifying schools, along with $135 million in new state SNAP funding, per the same organization's report. Separately, more than 1,200 Virginia public schools across 116 school divisions now participate in the Community Eligibility Provision, connecting nearly 708,000 students statewide with free school breakfast and lunch.
Disparities Across Race and Region
The study also found stark regional and racial disparities. Southwest Virginia reported the highest food insecurity rate in the state at 55%, while Northern Virginia's rate was 32%, No Kid Hungry's report notes. Among households with children specifically, rates ranged from 40% in the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank area to 70% in the Feeding Southwest Virginia Food Bank area. Black and Hispanic Virginians experienced food insecurity at roughly twice the rate of white Virginians, according to WDBJ7.
Nearby regions are seeing similar strain. In the Blue Ridge area, 37% of households — and 35% of children — were food insecure between May 2025 and May 2026, according to a press release from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Further north, the Capital Area Food Bank's 2026 report, based on interviews with nearly 4,000 Washington-region residents conducted by NORC between May 4 and May 16, found that food insecurity in Greater Washington reached a five-year high — and for the first time since that survey began in 2022, fewer than half of the region's households reported high confidence in their ability to get the food they need.
Why the Numbers Don't Line Up With Past Federal Data
Researchers behind the Virginia Hunger Study were careful to note that its findings should not be directly compared to the USDA's previous state-level estimates, since the two surveys were conducted and weighted differently. That caveat matters because it means the new numbers can't simply be read as a jump from whatever earlier federal figures showed for Virginia — they represent a fresh baseline rather than a direct year-over-year comparison. Even so, the scale of the findings, paired with declining SNAP enrollment and rising grocery costs, points to a strain on Virginia families that state officials and hunger-relief groups are now moving to address through expanded school meal programs and new state funding.
