'Food deserts': 76 counties in the US do not have a single grocery store

There are no grocery stores in 76 counties across America, leaving families unable to access fresh, healthy food. Dailymail.

Photo: IStock

According to the latest data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 34 of these so-called "food deserts" are located in the Midwest and the Great Plains.

The data shows that states like Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota have the most counties without a local store.
These food deserts mainly affect low-income and rural communities. Closed stores mean people have little to no access to fresh, healthy food, forcing them to buy highly processed packaged foods.

State distribution

Texas has the most food deserts with 11 counties, Nebraska has nine, Kansas has seven, Georgia has seven, and North Dakota has six.

For example, Alpine County in California is the only one in the state without a grocery store, and the same can be said for Rich County in Utah.

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Every county in Florida has a grocery store, although only one remains in the Glades.

The USDA defines low access to healthy food as "great distance from a supermarket or large grocery store."

The classification differs for different types of areas, where "far" is defined as more than 600 m for urban areas and more than 6 km for rural areas.

According to this indicator, approximately 18,8 million people across the country struggle to get to the grocery store, which is about 6,1 percent of the population.

The problem of the countryside

Many of the counties on the list are rural areas with limited transportation and where retailers fear that household incomes will not be able to support a viable food outlet.

In many rural towns, local grocery stores are a thing of the past.

Real Carver, program manager for the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University, said that farming communities have been losing population for decades, making it difficult for businesses to keep afloat.

“As small towns get smaller, that means there will be fewer sales in our grocery store,” Carver said.

The Rural Grocery Initiative found that 2008 grocery stores closed in rural Kansas between 2018 and 105, with no new stores opening in half of them.

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This is in stark contrast to other rural towns that are flooded with budget shops.

A small town in eastern Kentucky lays claim to unusual fame: with a population of just 1424, it has six-dollar stores, most built in the last few years.

Olive Hill, a quiet village located on Tigarts Creek in the foothills of the Appalachians, has two Family Dollar stores and four Dollar General stores in and close to the city.

Dollar stores have been the fastest growing food retailers by share of household spending over the past decade, according to a 2022 study, with growth more than doubling in rural areas.

The dollar store market is dominated by two large companies, Dollar General and Dollar Tree, which also owns Family Dollar.

Together, the chains operate more than 35 stores nationwide, more than the combined number of McDonald's and Walmart stores in the US.

But critics fear that the convenience and affordability of products at dollar stores is offset by concerns about the quality of their food products, which lean towards high-calorie, highly processed packaged foods. Many smaller stores are also closing under pressure from billion-dollar chains like Walmart and Amazon.

Kroger and Albertsons, the country's two largest supermarkets, are on the verge of a controversial merger. The creation of this mega-network has outraged food security advocates and food unions alike.

"These independent stores in smaller towns don't have as much buying power as some of the big chains you'll find in urban areas," Carver said.

Food availability

Lack of access to a local store only exacerbates growing concerns about food insecurity across the country.

According to a study published in March, a quarter of US adults can hardly afford a full meal.

As relentless inflation and the cessation of payments due to the pandemic cut the budgets of millions of households, more households are turning to food banks and credit cards to make ends meet. A survey by the Urban Institute found that at the end of 2022, 24,6% of respondents were food insecure, meaning they could not always put enough food on the table, up from 20% at the end of 2021.

However, some communities that have been hard pressed by larger companies are resisting store closures.

Circle C Market is operated by the Cody-Kilgore School District in Cody, Nebraska, a city of just 167 people.

“We are vital to the community. The closest grocery store is 24 kilometers to the east and the other closest grocery store is an hour's drive to the west, said store manager Liz Ravenscroft.

The store was opened in 2008 with the help of several national organizations and a grant from the USDA, which offers to help communities expand their local and regional food systems and strengthen their economies.

Counties without food stores

• Calhoun, Arkansas.
• Alpine, California.
• Gilpin, Colorado.
• Crawford, Georgia.
• Dooley, Georgia.
• Echols, Georgia.
• Glascock, Georgia.
• Taliaferro, Georgia.
• Twiggs, Georgia.
• Wilcox, Georgia.
• Kalawao, Hawaii.
• Adams, Idaho.
• Clark, Idaho.
• Gallatin, Illinois.
• Lawrence, Illinois.
• Chase, Kansas.
• Elk, Kansas.
• Kiowa, Kansas.
• Rush, Kansas.
• Sherman, Kansas.
• Stanton, Kansas.
• Woodson, Kansas.
• Hancock, Kentucky.
• Awsley, Kentucky.
• Red River, Louisiana.
• Wilkin, Minnesota.
• Carroll, Mississippi.
• Isakena, Mississippi.
• Ray, Missouri.
• Golden Valley, Montana.
• Treasure, Montana.
• Banner, Nebraska.
• Blaine, Nebraska.
• Dundee, Nebraska.
• Logan, Nebraska.
• Loop, Nebraska.
• McPherson, Nebraska.
• Soo, Nebraska.
• Thurston, Nebraska.
• Wheeler, Nebraska.
• Story, Nevada.
• Guadalupe, New Mexico.
• Camden, North Carolina.
• Billings, North Dakota.
• Bottino, North Dakota.
• Eddie, North Dakota.
• Oliver, North Dakota.
• Slope, North Dakota.
• Towner, North Dakota.
• Vinton, Ohio.
• Choctaw, Oklahoma.
• Cotton, Oklahoma.
• Sherman, Oregon.
• Buffalo, South Dakota.
• Campbell, South Dakota.
• Fall River, South Dakota.
• Stanley, South Dakota.
• Seebach, South Dakota.
• Cannon, Tennessee.
• Van Buren, Tennessee.
• Borden, Texas.
• Culberson, Texas.
• Dallam, Texas.
• Delta, Texas.
• Glasscock, Texas.
• Irion, Texas.
• Kennedy, Texas.
• King, Texas.
• Loving, Texas.
• McMullen, Texas.
• Terrell, Texas.
• Rich, Utah.
• Greensville, Virginia.
• King and Queen, Virginia.
• Menominee, Wisconsin.

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