Observed arrival · 2026-09-24
The Food Gap: A County-Level Map of U.S. Food-Desert Severity
An interactive map and downloadable data set covering 2,083 U.S. counties that contain USDA-identified food-desert tracts.
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✦Pretty
●Pro
◎Niche
◉Human
⚑Risk
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- For
- Researchers and advocates studying county food access
- Worth noticing
- The index is explicitly not a USDA county LILA percentage; grocery spending is modeled from a national baseline.
Field notes
County population and store counts are drawn from Census and Food Environment Atlas fields packaged with the map. The page cautions that affected-population totals are approximate, and that its urban/rural flag is a derived density measure rather than a Census Urban Area designation. It also identifies fruits-and-vegetables share as a national constant in this edition.
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○OpenPublic substance visible
✦PrettyNotable craft visible
●ProPolished or operationally mature
◎NicheUnusually specific use
◉HumanPersonal, local, civic, or handmade
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