What this supports well
- Prioritizing where to validate local service gaps.
- Comparing relative pressure across tracts and counties.
- Framing regional planning conversations.
Supported by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy
Documentation
Methods and Data Sources
Plain-language first, technical detail second. Use this page to understand what the index means and how to replicate it.
Start here (plain language)
The index is designed to highlight places where food insecurity may be high and nearby pantry coverage may be limited. It combines two signals: estimated need and 1-mile pantry-area coverage.
- Gather pantry records from multiple public and partner source lists.
- Clean and standardize names, addresses, and location fields.
- Geocode addresses into map points and run quality checks.
- Estimate how much of each tract is within 1 mile of a pantry.
- Combine need and coverage gap into a standardized 0-100 tract score.
What this does not measure directly
- Real-time pantry capacity, inventory, or operating status.
- Eligibility barriers and program-specific access constraints.
- Household-level outcomes.
Replication details (technical)
1) Source ingestion and standardization
Each source is ingested with source-specific logic and converted to a standardized schema. The build retains source identifiers so each merged pantry row can be traced back to original lists.
2) Geocoding approach
Address geocoding uses fallbacks: U.S. Census geocoder, OpenStreetMap, and ArcGIS. Geocoding method and status are retained for auditability.
3) Geocode quality control
State-coordinate checks are used to flag or reject placements that appear outside the expected state.
4) Deduplication rules
Records are merged using normalized keys (including standardized street abbreviations and city normalization). Source membership and name variants are preserved.
5) Index construction
For each tract: estimate food-insecure residents, estimate 1-mile pantry-area coverage, compute uncovered need, then rescale statewide to a 0-100 index.
6) Data pull timestamps
All source datasets in this table are included in the current build. Source-by-source access timestamps are not yet published. TODO: publish pull-log timestamps in the next public update.
Variable provenance (CDC PLACES and Census)
The index combines pantry geometry with public need indicators. This table lists only variables used in the current published index outputs.
| Published variable | Where you see it | Primary source | Raw field(s) | How it is used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Food Insecurity in Past 12 Months (Percent of Adults) |
data/food_insecurity.csv, data/food_insecurity_zcta.csv, data/food_pantry_desert_zcta_full_data_details.csv |
CDC PLACES (Missouri extracts) | FOODINSECU_CrudePrev |
Primary food insecurity input. |
total_population |
data/food_pantry_desert_zcta_full_data_details.csv |
U.S. Census ACS 5-year | B01003_001E (ZCTA total population) |
Used to estimate count of food-insecure residents. |
covered_area_m2, tract_area_m2, zcta_area_m2, pct_within_1mi_of_food_pantry |
Tract and ZCTA full-details files | Derived (pantry points + Census geometry) | 1-mile buffers around merged pantry points intersected with tract/ZCTA polygons | Coverage side of the index. |
estimated_food_insecure_people, estimated_uncovered_food_insecure_people |
Tract and ZCTA full-details files | Derived (CDC + Census + coverage) | total_population * (food_insecurity_pct / 100), then adjusted by uncovered share |
Need estimate and uncovered-need estimate. |
Food Pantry Desert Index |
data/food_pantry_desert.csv, data/food_pantry_desert_zcta.csv |
Derived | Statewide 0-100 scaling of the selected need/coverage measure | Final ranking index used in maps. |
Source scripts: code/pipeline/06_recreate_food_pantry_desert_index.R and code/pipeline/13_recreate_food_pantry_desert_index_zcta.R.
Source table
Coverage and quality vary by source. Use this table when interpreting gaps. "Date accessed" values are pending publication of the pull-log timestamps.
| Source | Primary link | Date accessed | Fields used | How used | Known coverage issues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDC PLACES | cdc.gov/places | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Tract/ZCTA IDs, food insecurity prevalence fields | Need-side index input | Modeled estimates with uncertainty; not a direct pantry utilization measure |
| U.S. Census ACS 5-year | census.gov/acs | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Population, income, unemployment and related tract/ZCTA indicators | Population scaling and tract fallback inputs | Sampling error can be larger in small geographies |
| 211 | 211helps.org | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, city, state, ZIP, service metadata | Base pantry list | May miss recent openings/closures by region |
| Operation Food Search | AccessFood API endpoint | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, coordinates, program fields | Paginated API pull | Network-specific coverage; may not represent all Missouri providers |
| St. Louis Area Foodbank | stlfoodbank.org | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, location notes | Compiled statewide source table | Coverage may be stronger in partner service areas |
| MO.gov Food Pantry List | Missouri open-data CSV | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, city, state, ZIP | Direct CSV ingestion | Administrative list may include stale entries |
| MO Farmers Care | State pantry PDF | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, city/state | PDF extraction and cleanup | Manual extraction can produce parsing errors |
| SEMO Foodbank | semofoodbank.org/pantries | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, city/state/ZIP | Web scrape and parse | Website structure changes can affect scraping completeness |
| Ozarks Food Harvest | ozarksfoodharvest.org/need-help | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, geographic metadata | Embedded data parsing | Embedded datasets can change without notice |
| Share Food Bring Hope | Food locator page | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, location metadata | WordPress AJAX-backed locator pull | Coverage reflects participating network locations |
| St. Joseph Second Harvest | Agency partner food sites | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, city/state | Agency/pantry site scrape | Coverage may be region-concentrated |
| Harvesters Food Network | Pantry query URL | Included in current build; exact pull date pending | Name, address, coordinates, category filters | Locator card extraction | Search-based extraction may depend on query parameters |
TODO: add exact per-source access timestamps from pipeline logs.
Glossary
- Food insecurity
- Estimated share of adults reporting not having enough food in the past 12 months.
- Pantry coverage
- Share of tract area located within 1 mile of a mapped pantry point.
- Food pantry desert index
- A relative 0-100 score combining estimated need and limited nearby pantry coverage.
- Geocoding
- Converting a street address into map coordinates.
- Census tract
- A small Census geography used for statistical analysis, typically a few thousand residents.
- ZCTA
- ZIP Code Tabulation Area, a Census approximation of USPS ZIP geography.
Known limitations
- Pantry lists may lag real-time service changes.
- Coverage buffers do not measure pantry capacity or inventory.
- Area-based coverage may not match actual travel barriers.
- Source completeness may vary by region and provider network.
Change log
- February 21, 2026: Reorganized site information architecture, added guardrails, glossary, and source-coverage table.
- TODO: Backfill earlier method and data-update milestones from project logs.