CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – According to the 2026 Virginia Hunger Study released on Sept. 21, 42% of Virginia households identified as food insecure from May 2025 to May 2026. In addition, over one quarter (26%) of households experienced “very low” food security, the most severe form listed in the survey.

Kari Diener, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, described these numbers and other data points in the survey as “striking but not surprising.”

“They confirm what many of us see every day, what our network partners see every day,” said Diener. “The reality is that household budgets are stretched and the cost of basic needs results in really difficult trade-offs for people.”

The 2026 study is the first comprehensive, statewide look at hunger in the Commonwealth since the U.S. Department of Agriculture discontinued state level food insecurity estimates, which had been published for more than three decades, in 2025. It comes from a partnership between the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, the Virginia Department of Social Services, Virginia Tech, and No Kid Hungry Virginia while the survey was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. The findings come from a general population survey of over 5,600 Virginians responding to direct interviews. Overall, the study looks at the prevalence, levels, and drivers of food insecurity in Virginia while also analyzing its effect on households, health and nutrition, and community support systems.

Jane Colony-Mills, Executive Director of Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry based in Charlottesville, shared Diener’s sentiment of the data.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “I’m very sad because it validates what we’ve been saying that the cost of living is so impossibly high that people are trying to keep a roof over their head and they can’t afford food.”

The survey showed that more than half of food insecure respondents listed higher than usual prices for housing as a major cause of financial strain. The study also points to other drivers in food insecure households as 87% of respondents cited an increase in grocery prices as a cause for financial stress compared to just 42% of food secure households saying the same. 84% also pointed to price increases for gas, water, and other utilities as a reason for economic strain. 

As the number of households identifying goes up, so too does the demand for organizations that provide food assistance. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, specifically, is facing the largest demand in the organization’s history.

“Currently, we’re unfortunately serving the highest number of people than ever before,” said Diener. “Last year, we served around 178,700 people every month and that’s about 40% up over the past four years.”

At Loaves and Fishes, Mills noted that just in the Charlottesville area the pantry will serve 12,000 people a month, a number that has not gone down in more than two years. 

The survey also highlights nutritional concerns for those in food insecure households. 77% of adults experiencing food insecurity said they found it difficult to obtain healthy food and were half as likely to eat at least one serving of vegetables a day compared to their food secure counterparts.  Those who identified as food insecure were also more likely to have a chronic health condition than those in food secure households. “What we’re seeing is that when people can’t get enough nutritious food to eat, they’re more likely to visit an emergency room or an urgent care center,” said Diener. “Things like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and these can be managed through adequate nutrition.”

While food pantries do their best to provide healthy, nutritious food to those who need their services, they are often bound by what is donated. Even at Loaves and Fishes that promotes itself as a healthy food pantry struggles with providing nutritional food from donations.

“We made a conscious effort in the past several years to prioritize healthy food as what we give out,” said Mills, “but the reality of donated food is it’s often some of the worst stuff that’s out there.”

Loaves and Fishes receives plenty of donations of snacks or foods with high sugar or fat contents but also purchases milk, eggs, and produce and rescues fresh produce, bread, and meat from area groceries so that more than half of the food given out includes perishable items.

The study also details the different levels of food insecurity across the state. Food insecurity as defined by the study occurs when people have inadequate or uncertain access to adequate, safe, and nutritious food. The survey then breaks this down further into categories of marginal, low, and very low all of which represent different levels of disruption to a person’s or household’s food access and regular diet. Those experiencing very low food insecurity may struggle to maintain regular eating patterns or skip meals in order to survive. Mills suspects that this vulnerable population may not even have access to the programs that aim to assist them.

“You’ve got to be able to get to an entity when it’s open. All of us run on limited hours,” she said. ” I think that those people who are very food insecure just don’t have the access.”

She noted transportation, physical mobility, language barriers, or working during the hours when food is given out could prevent someone from accessing the safety net of food assistance.

The Virginia Hunger Study brings to light issues that those who work in food assistance have noticed independently in recent years: that food insecurity is growing in communities across the Commonwealth. While the data may show cause for concern, Diener also sees it as validating.

“The findings are very concerning, but they also do reinforce the importance of our work and the importance of the charitable food network.” she said. “And through this partnership, through our community support and our advocacy together, we can ensure that everyone has enough to eat.”