American Food Deserts

Millions of Americans live in communities that are both low-income and far from a grocery store. The Institute for Local Self Reliance’s new interactive map shows where grocery access is missing across the United States - and how decades of consolidation in the grocery industry have helped create today’s food deserts.

The Grocery Deserts map layers USDA-designated food deserts with the locations of grocery stores, categorized as independent grocers, small chains, large chains, and megachains like Walmart and Kroger. The result is a striking visual of where food access exists - and where it’s disappeared.

👉 Explore the map to see how grocery consolidation has reshaped your community.

For much of the 20th century, grocery retail in the U.S. was highly competitive. Independent stores thrived alongside chains, and nearly every town had multiple places to buy fresh food. That changed in the early 1980s, when the federal government stopped enforcing the Robinson-Patman Act, an antitrust law that prevented suppliers from giving unfair price advantages to the largest retailers. As consolidation accelerated, independent grocers vanished, prices rose, and food deserts spread.

ILSR’s map shows where grocery stores are - and who owns them. Users can explore their congressional district, compare store types through clear color-coding, and see food deserts highlighted by census tract, defined as areas where low-income residents live more than a mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) from the nearest supermarket.

Also See

The USDA Food Access Research Atlas
The USDA Food Environment Atlas
Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap