For 3 in 10 California Kids, the Food They Need Is Out of Reach

KidsData has added a new indicator of children’s household food sufficiency, which measures not just whether families can afford enough to eat, but also whether they can afford the wholesome, nutritious foods needed to support healthy development and wellness for all family members.

Nationwide, the latest estimates show that fewer than two-thirds of children lived in households that were fully food sufficient in the previous year—meaning they could always afford enough, good-quality food for everyone in the home. California outperformed the U.S. overall, with an estimated 69% of children living in households that could always afford both the quantity and quality of food to meet all members’ needs.

Still, this leaves more than 1 in 4 California children whose households couldn’t always afford the types of healthful foods they should eat. And combined with kids in households that couldn’t always afford enough to eat, this amounts to more than 2.5 million young people without consistent access to good, nutritious food for themselves and their families.

Visit KidsData to learn about the health impacts of uncertain access to nutritious foods and to explore program and policy options to improve food security for families.

Opportunity

Help KidsData Identify Gaps in Child Well-Being Data

The KidsData team is seeking feedback from advocates, program staff, educators, families, and other data users to better understand which populations are being overlooked in available health data—and how more detailed, disaggregated information could better reflect children’s diverse experiences across California. To participate, complete our short questionnaire or email [email protected] to schedule a brief conversation with us.

Posted by kidsdata.org

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2026 at 11:46 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.