How Much Hunger Is In Your ZIP Code? Houston Food Bank Gives You The Scoop

HOUSTON, TX — The metropolitan Houston area is a sprawling and diverse land mass, full of pockets of wealth abutting poorer communities. Income disparity, employment levels, and home ownership statistics are all over the map.

With such diversity comes hunger, as well. Have you ever wondered how many people in your neighborhood experience food insecurity, defined as "the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food"?

The Houston Food Bank has used Tableau Public software to compile an informative database to answer your query — and a lot more.

For example, did you know that 34.9 percent of residents in the 77026 ZIP code suffered from food insecurity? The median income in that ZIP code (2016 data) was $21,335. Compare that to 77005, where the median income was $163,802 and food insecurity beset 11.9 percent of residents.

The numbers are striking, and illustrative of the melting pot that the Houston area is.

The food bank's data page is available here.

— Image courtesy Houston Food Bank