From Slate: Food Deserts in America A 2009 study by the Department of Agriculture found that 2.3 million households do not have access to a car and live more than a mile from a supermarket. Much of the public health debate over rising obesity rates has turned to these “food deserts,” where convenience store fare is more accessible—and more expensive—than healthier options farther away. This map colors each county in America by the percentage of households in food deserts, according to the USDA’s definition. Data is not available for Alaska and Hawaii. Only four counties in Arkansas fall into the lowest tier: Benton, Craighead, Sebastian, and Washington (where Fayetteville is located). Of those four, Washington County fares the best, with only 1.83 percent of the population living more than a mile from a supermarket while lacking access to a car. Phillips County fares the worst, with 14.76 percent of its population lacking easy access to healthy options.

From Slate: Food Deserts in America

A 2009 study by the Department of Agriculture found that 2.3 million households do not have access to a car and live more than a mile from a supermarket. Much of the public health debate over rising obesity rates has turned to these “food deserts,” where convenience store fare is more accessible—and more expensive—than healthier options farther away. This map colors each county in America by the percentage of households in food deserts, according to the USDA’s definition. Data is not available for Alaska and Hawaii.

Only four counties in Arkansas fall into the lowest tier: Benton, Craighead, Sebastian, and Washington (where Fayetteville is located). Of those four, Washington County fares the best, with only 1.83 percent of the population living more than a mile from a supermarket while lacking access to a car. Phillips County fares the worst, with 14.76 percent of its population lacking easy access to healthy options.

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  1. corinna-gonzales reblogged this from gregleding
  2. mumblemouth reblogged this from superfluouscity and added:
    I think this must be deeply connected to the general idea of the South as ‘fat.’ If you can’t get to the store all that...
  3. apostrophiee reblogged this from woody and added:
    We were just talking about this the other day in my Geo. of Food Systems class!
  4. titularhumour reblogged this from rpgsa and added:
    It’s a little bit interesting which places aren’t on this map, like Detroit and Los Angeles. Are the darker areas mostly...
  5. rpgsa reblogged this from humanscalecities
  6. mllediabolique reblogged this from jayparkinsonmd and added:
    Since I’m on the topic of obesity lately, I thought I’d just put this here. Even assuming that fat = bad (we all know I...
  7. amulherresgatada reblogged this from publicradiointernational
  8. alessandrak reblogged this from woody
  9. cochoncochon reblogged this from woody
  10. woody reblogged this from hilker and added:
    jayparkinsonmd:gregleding:From Slate: Food Deserts in America:
  11. anindiscriminatecollection reblogged this from blackgirlphresh
  12. samantherr reblogged this from okayla
  13. believeinmyths reblogged this from leftliberty and added:
    West Virginia is completely engulfed.
  14. humanscalecities reblogged this from gregleding
  15. mappist reblogged this from publicradiointernational and added:
    Why doesn’t the legend match the map? I hate hate hate it when things like this get published and then reblogged by...
  16. jessicalauring reblogged this from jayparkinsonmd
  17. macphoenix reblogged this from greenstate
  18. driftingfocus reblogged this from joinakibbutz
  19. argusofinsight reblogged this from greenstate and added:
    Notice how these areas are concentrated in conservative areas of the country.
  20. dendroica reblogged this from silas216
  21. asoftrevolt reblogged this from greenstate and added:
    I was thinking about this the other day. I live in a relatively small town in south Georgia that’s situated inside a...
  22. betterworlds reblogged this from joinakibbutz
  23. nckrfkn reblogged this from jayparkinsonmd
  24. gregleding posted this