Food prices, food insecurity, and implications for public health in the United States

Food prices in the US have recently risen faster than overall inflation, but their associations with food insecurity remain unclear. Using national time-series economic data from 2001–2024, we examined associations between food insecurity and relative food prices, unemployment, and inflation using regression and dominance analyses. We found that relative food prices increased sharply after 2021. Excluding 2020–2021 data, these economic factors explained 89% of food insecurity variation. Unemployment accounted for 60.9% of the variation, food prices 35.7%, and inflation 3.4%. Higher food prices were associated with higher food insecurity, underscoring the need for economic and healthcare policies to improve population health.