FAQ

This project identifies places where pantry access is more likely to fall short of local need. It combines estimated food insecurity with mapped proximity to pantry locations. The goal is to help policymakers and nonprofits focus follow-up work where gaps may be greatest.

The Food Pantry Desert Map is a statewide planning view that shows a four-tier tract rating of unmet pantry need. The page includes open-hours threshold scenarios (4+, 8+ default, and 15+ hours/week), which change which pantry points and ratings are displayed. It is designed for screening and prioritization, not real-time operations.

The rating is a four-level summary of estimated unserved food-insecure adults (18+). Current tier cutoffs are fixed in data/priority-area-thresholds.json: Lower (0-149), Moderate (150-299), High (300-599), and Very High (600+). Tracts that cannot be classified appear as insufficient data.

First, the project estimates likely food insecurity counts for adults. Next, it estimates what share of each area falls within 1 mile of a mapped pantry. It then estimates the count outside that modeled coverage and assigns each tract to a tier using the published cutoff file.

This site does not track real-time conditions such as current inventory, staffing, or same-day closures. It is also not a live service directory for immediate client routing. It should be used as a planning signal, then checked against current local information.

Unmet Pantry Need is the estimated number of food-insecure adults outside modeled pantry coverage in an area. In the downloadable tract and ZCTA files, this appears as Unmet Pantry Need (Count). It is the core quantity used for rating tiers.

The project uses CDC PLACES estimates of food insecurity prevalence and combines them with ACS adult population counts. This produces an estimated number of food-insecure adults for each geography. It is a modeled estimate intended for planning comparisons.

Coverage is modeled from 1-mile straight-line pantry proximity. The model estimates the share of tract or ZCTA area within 1 mile of at least one pantry, then uses that share to estimate uncovered need. In technical fields this appears as pct_within_1mi_of_food_pantry.

The site uses 1 mile as a single statewide geometry rule. A common rule makes tract and ZCTA comparisons easier across the map. It is a planning convention, not a claim about actual travel time for every household.

Capacity and eligibility are not directly modeled. Hours are partly represented through the map's threshold scenarios (4+, 8+, and 15+ hours/week), which filter included pantry points before ratings are shown. Even with those scenarios, ratings are still planning estimates, not operational measures.

Pantry locations are compiled from multiple source lists in the site data bundle. Records are standardized and merged into a consolidated file, with source-level files also published for transparency. Key files include food_pantry_unique_full.csv, food_pantry_source_presence.csv, and food_pantry_source_records.csv.

The site reports both a data snapshot date and a content update date. Current release: data snapshot February 22, 2026; content update February 26, 2026. The snapshot date shows when core data were fixed for analysis, while the content date shows when pages were last refreshed.

Local conditions can change faster than statewide source lists update. Pantries may open, close, move, or change schedules after a snapshot is taken. Differences can also come from temporary service changes that are hard to capture in batch data.

Both census tracts and ZCTAs are available. Tracts are smaller and are usually better for neighborhood-level planning, while ZCTAs are ZIP-oriented and often easier for broad communication. Use tract views for targeting, and ZCTA views for higher-level summaries.

The map is useful for screening, but it has important limits. It should be read as a planning summary, not as a full measure of service delivery. Key limits include:

• Not real-time for inventory, closures, or day-to-day operations.
• Coverage is based on straight-line distance, not travel time or transport access.
• Ratings do not directly model pantry capacity or eligibility rules.
• Open-hours scenarios are available, but they still do not measure current availability.
• Source lists may lag local openings, closures, and schedule changes.

Because of these limits, local review is always needed before decisions are made.

Use the ratings to identify where deeper review should start. Pair map results with local provider input, community partners, and recent field information. Treat the map as a prioritization layer that supports, but does not replace, local planning judgment.

No. Do not use this tool alone to make same-day operational or client-routing decisions. Verify local details directly with providers before acting, especially for hours, eligibility, and current availability.

Use the Complete Data Manifest page for a full downloadable file inventory. Most analytic outputs are CSV, with JSON used for map threshold settings. Start with tract unmet pantry need, ZCTA unmet pantry need, merged pantry locations, then use data_manifest.csv for the full published list.

Published files include tract and ZCTA unmet-need outputs, food insecurity tables, pantry source/merge tables, open-hours tables, and threshold configuration files. Example files: food_pantry_desert.csv, food_pantry_desert_zcta.csv, food_insecurity.csv, food_pantry_unique_full.csv, and open-hours-thresholds.json. The manifest page and manifest CSV list all files and byte sizes for this build.

Thresholds are defined in data/priority-area-thresholds.json. The current map tiers are based on unmet count cutoffs of 0, 150, 300, and 600 (adults 18+), which correspond to Lower, Moderate, High, and Very High. Keeping this in a public config file makes the classification rule explicit.

Please use the About page contact section for corrections or updates. Include the pantry name, location, and the source used to verify the correction. This helps updates be reviewed and applied more quickly.