Food insecurity is one way to measure and assess the risk of hunger. Being food insecure is stressful, and food insecurity makes it difficult for children to learn and grow. Financially stressed families often need to choose between spending money on healthy food or other basic needs such as housing or health expenses.

In 2019, 17% of state residents were food insecure, the same rate since 2016. The national rate was 11% in 2019, making Arkansas 50th in the nation, including all 50 states and Washington D.C., second only to Mississippi on this indicator. Among counties in the state, food insecurity was highest in Phillips County at 23% and lowest in Benton County at 12%.

Feeding America estimates the level of food insecurity in counties by analyzing the relationship between reported food insecurity and related indicators such as poverty, unemployment, homeownership at the state level, then applying that knowledge to generate estimates based on county data on poverty, unemployment and similar indicators.