A survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found higher levels of food insecurity this year than during the summer of 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak sparked double-digit unemployment.

The New York Fed periodically asks Americans whether they’re having to skip meals, having to rely on food donations or receiving federal assistance to buy groceries. Replies from the most recent survey, in February, show hunger is a more pervasive problem now than at any time in the last six years.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260528115505/https://www.npr.org/2026/05/27/nx-s1-5836441/food-insecurity-economy-new-york-fed