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New Mexico ranks fourth nationally for food insecurity and childhood hunger
New Mexico has been ranked fourth in the nation for high rates of food insecurity, according to Feeding America’s 2025 Map the Meal Gap.
The study, which used 2023 data to assess the average meal cost, unemployment and inflation rates that can drive food insecurity, shows New Mexico went from first in the nation to fourth.
New Mexico has higher hunger rates compared to the national average, according to the study. In New Mexico, 16.6% of people are food insecure, compared to the national average of 14.3%.
These higher hunger rates also apply to children, with 23.3% of children in the state being food insecure, compared to a national average of 19.2%.
Despite the higher than average numbers, New Mexico has improved since the last report in 2019.
Communications Director Jimmy Himes-Ryann at Roadrunner Food Bank spoke on the optimistic future of the state’s food crisis.
“While food insecurity has ticked up in the United States and especially here in New Mexico, we have slowed that increase comparable to other states,” Himes-Ryann said.
State food banks and welfare programs have helped minimize the gap in food insecurity in the past several years. Some of those resources now face possible losses due to President Trump’s proposed cuts to nutrition assistance.
The final budget packet passed at the end of May cuts funding for these programs by $300 billion. These cuts will affect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program which is the largest program in the country.
SNAP benefits over 250,000 New Mexican households, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, as of February 2025.
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Katie Anderson, Roadrunner’s vice president of strategy, partnership, and advocacy, testified on the Senate floor on June 4 detailing the negative effects the budget cuts could have on New Mexico.
“New Mexico has made incredible strides forward in addressing food insecurity in the past few years with impactful legislation like universal healthy school meals ,” Anderson said.
With the proposal in the current package shifting the SNAP costs to the states, Anderson said most states, including New Mexico, are not fiscally prepared for this shift. It would mean tripling capacity and output, which is something that food banks in New Mexico and across the country are not able to suddenly do.
