What are the solutions to America’s food deserts?
By Anna Kezar
In neighborhoods where the nearest grocery store is miles away, families rely on gas station snacks and fast food. Living in an area without affordable access to fresh food, known as a food desert, doesn’t just change what’s on the dinner table – it can change the course of a life.
Why do food deserts exist?
A food desert is an area where at least one-third of the population lives more than one mile from a supermarket in urban areas and 10 miles in rural areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Food deserts are part of a larger issue of food equity including affordability and accessibility. Accessibility includes issues of cost, distance and transportation, density of stores, and the variety and availability of quality nutritious foods.
Major grocery chains such as Kroger and Walmart tend not to place stores in food deserts, specifically in low-income urban areas, according to a 2020 video on food deserts from CNBC. Even if there is access to a grocery store, food prices are not always affordable and the variety of foods such as produce is not present. Food deserts often have a surplus of convenience stores and fast food restaurants.
Most households use their own vehicles for grocery shopping and do not shop at the nearest supermarket. Households that use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, although located an average of two miles from the closest store, typically travel 3.3 miles to their primary shopping location, according to a 2025 study by the USDA.
Who is affected by food deserts?
Food deserts impact 18.8 million people in the U.S., according to a 2025 study on food deserts by the National Library of Medicine.
Food deserts are in urban and rural areas and affect both low- and high-income households and individuals of all ethnicities. Areas with higher poverty rates and population density are more likely to have food accessibility issues, according to a 2025 report from the Economic Research Service.
Major food desert areas in the U.S. include the central and western U.S., parts of Appalachia, northern Maine, and most of Alaska.
Low-income ethnic minority communities in urban areas and white residents over 55 in rural areas are most affected, according to the USDA Food Access Research Atlas.
What is the impact on peoples’ lives?
The limited accessibility and affordability of food poses wide-ranging effects and challenges, influenced by factors such as culture and education.
Grace Runyan grew up in Waynetown, Ind. – population 900. Being 25 minutes away from the nearest grocery store with fresh food, her family only went to the store once a week. Runyan said this significantly impacted her nutrition, especially with her chronic health conditions.
“It was bad,” Runyan said.
Lower diet quality is a leading preventable risk factor for obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and stroke, according to a 2015 study on at-home food purchases and chronic diseases by the National Library of Medicine.
Food-insecure individuals consume fewer fruits and vegetables, which negatively impacts their diet quality and health, and leads to the development of chronic diseases, according to a 2023 article from the Nutrients Journal.
Low-income households average a Healthy Eating Index score of 52.6 out of 100, showing a significant need for diet quality improvement, according to the NLM study on chronic diseases.
Household heads who had higher education and households with higher incomes purchase food of better nutritional quality. Household heads with a college degree in rural areas have 3.78 points higher HEI scores than those with less than a high school diploma, according to the NLM study on food deserts.
Lower income consumers tend to purchase fewer fruits and vegetables and more processed foods and beverages than higher-income consumers. Many low-income communities lack affordable access to culturally relevant foods which inhibits their ability to maintain proper nutrition, according to the Nutrients Journal article.
Are there solutions?
There are ways to improve fresh food affordability and accessibility on a nationwide and local scale.
Those who order groceries online are more likely to participate in food assistance programs and report greater diet quality, according to the Nutrients Journal article. Options include delivery services like Amazon Fresh and online stores like Thrive Market.
Thrive Market is an online membership-based grocery store offering organic, dietary-specific and sustainable products at discounted prices.
“Healthy food is a priority not a privilege,” according to the Thrive Market website.
Grocery orders can be placed at any time and arrive in three days, according to a 2025 article from Reviewed. Shipping is free on orders over $49.
An annual membership costs $59.95, and every annual membership sponsors one for a low-income or low-access individual or family through its Thrive Gives program. The store also accepts electronic benefit payment through SNAP.
Thrive’s offerings can be beneficial for individuals with specific dietary needs, such as gluten-free, nut-free or organic products, which are often more expensive in traditional grocery stores.
One potential drawback is that Thrive Market does not sell fresh produce, which is a major nutrition gap for low-income, low-access households. A customer would need to supplement with another grocery delivery service or require access to a store that sells produce.
For online grocery shopping to have a positive effect, digital literacy and nutritional education needs to improve, according to the Nutrients Journal article.
“The findings suggest that availability of healthier food alone may not improve the nutritional quality of retail food purchases,” according to the NLM study on chronic diseases.
This is because eating habits are a key influencing factor in purchasing and consumption decisions. However, access is still important to ensure individuals have the choice to improve their nutrition.
One potential local solution is a community food model such as the Community Controlled Food Initiative in Indianapolis through the Kheprw Institute, a national community empowerment nonprofit.
In this model, the organization takes monthly food orders from local urban farmers and pools resources from the participants to pay for fresh produce. The program accepts SNAP EBT payment. The food is then delivered to a distribution location for pickup from customers; the initiative also delivers produce to homes.
“People are so thankful to have a simple way to have fresh, healthy food,” Mimi Zakem, director of the CCFI, said.
Some participants who have received food donations also end up contributing to the fund, once they are able, to show their appreciation for the program.
Over the past nine years, the CCFI has supplied over 80,000 pounds of produce to local communities and supported urban farmers.
“We’ve learned to work together and address problems with the resources we already have,” Zakem said.
The model’s low cost increases its accessibility to communities to practically address local food access issues.
“I think it’s something that can definitely be replicated and be used to make fresh food more affordable,” Zakem said.
