Table 204.10.

Number and percentage of public school students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, by state: Selected school years, 2000-01 through 2021-22

State	Number of students enrolled						Number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch									Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
	2000-01		2010-11	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2000-01		2010-11	2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2000-01		2010-11	2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
1	2		3	4	5	6	7		8	9		10		11		12		13	14		15		16
United States	46,579,068	1	48,941,267	49,922,161	43,682,772	47,305,808	17,839,867	1	23,544,479	26,000,645	1	22,505,692		23,007,582		38.3	1	48.1	52.1	1	51.5		48.6
Alabama	728,351		730,427	744,235	731,868	747,108	335,143		402,386	409,431		389,844		366,346		46.0		55.1	55.0		53.3		49.0
Alaska	105,333		132,104	131,981	---	---	32,468		50,701	56,618		---		---		30.8		38.4	42.9		†		†
Arizona	877,696	2	1,067,210	1,050,412	949,215	986,811	274,277	2	482,044	537,767		213,053		321,034		31.2	2	45.2	51.2		22.4		32.5
Arkansas	449,959		482,114	495,797	486,176	489,561	205,058		291,608	324,538		320,372		318,497		45.6		60.5	65.5		65.9		65.1
California	6,050,753		6,169,427	6,146,641	5,956,491	5,870,925	2,820,611		3,335,885	3,648,170		3,518,819		3,395,976		46.6		54.1	59.4		59.1		57.8
Colorado	724,349		842,864	912,936	793,043	818,015	195,148		336,426	371,748		335,149		313,612		26.9		39.9	40.7		42.3		38.3
Connecticut	562,179	2	552,919	510,658	497,403	494,745	143,030	2	190,554	218,235		210,188		197,542		25.4	2	34.5	42.7		42.3		39.9
Delaware	114,676		128,342	139,926	138,092	139,929	37,766		61,564	39,635	3	36,916	3	34,043	3	32.9		48.0	28.3	3	26.7	3	24.3	3
District of   Columbia	68,380		71,263	88,621	89,011	88,115	47,839		52,027	67,688	3,4	38,662	3	40,950	3	70.0		73.0	76.4	3,4	43.4	3	46.5	3
Florida	2,434,755		2,641,555	2,858,020	2,789,117	2,832,225	1,079,009		1,479,519	1,540,439		1,516,191		1,524,242		44.3		56.0	53.9		54.4		53.8
Georgia	1,444,937		1,676,419	1,769,559	1,729,840	1,740,758	624,511		961,954	1,056,179		975,563		455,014	3	43.2		57.4	59.7		56.4		26.1	3
Hawaii	184,357		179,601	181,088	174,818	173,178	80,657		84,106	82,399		84,001		81,805		43.8		46.8	45.5		48.1		47.2
Idaho	244,755		275,815	310,714	302,345	284,201	85,824		124,104	115,409		94,924		71,795		35.1		45.0	37.1		31.4		25.3
Illinois	2,048,792	2	1,973,401	1,939,414	---	1,858,005	759,973	2	921,471	938,330		---		859,312		37.1	2	46.7	48.4		†		46.2
Indiana	977,219		1,038,817	1,051,073	1,033,634	1,033,868	285,267		485,728	508,312		489,622		457,278		29.2		46.8	48.4		47.4		44.2
Iowa	492,021		484,856	508,605	499,498	503,671	131,553		188,486	213,375		205,984		201,847		26.7		38.9	42.0		41.2		40.1
Kansas	462,594		479,953	491,291	476,334	478,080	154,693		228,852	228,893		215,837		206,494		33.4		47.7	46.6		45.3		43.2
Kentucky	626,723		673,128	691,798	658,656	653,634	298,334		380,773	385,469		370,230		371,219		47.6		56.6	55.7		56.2		56.8
Louisiana	741,162		695,772	710,409	689,923	678,897	433,068		460,546	403,194		381,630		322,343		58.4		66.2	56.8		55.3		47.5
Maine	198,532		183,477	175,101	167,379	168,207	60,162		78,915	73,593		67,495		63,225		30.3		43.0	42.0		40.3		37.6
Maryland	852,911		852,202	909,376	882,450	881,124	255,872		341,557	381,913		398,389		369,665		30.0		40.1	42.0		45.1		42.0
Massachusetts	979,590		955,301	944,867	910,972	910,522	237,871		326,849	309,594	3	333,828	3	399,105	3	24.3		34.2	32.8	3	36.6	3	43.8	3
Michigan	1,703,260		1,551,861	1,447,278	1,401,205	1,395,579	504,044		719,800	730,727		707,895		713,345		29.6		46.4	50.5		50.5		51.1
Minnesota	854,154		837,930	890,824	871,530	864,391	218,867		306,136	318,681		280,129		272,617		25.6		36.5	35.8		32.1		31.5
Mississippi	497,421		489,462	465,990	442,621	441,997	319,670		345,734	348,462		440,997		440,394		64.3		70.6	74.8		99.6		99.6
Missouri	912,247		902,375	904,881	877,160	886,965	315,608		406,358	452,727		429,409		389,133		34.6		45.0	50.0		49.0		43.9
Montana	154,438		140,497	148,266	144,723	148,736	47,415		57,836	59,559		33,403	3	46,171	3	30.7		41.2	40.2		23.1	3	31.0	3
Nebraska	286,138		298,276	329,938	324,090	327,203	87,045		127,114	150,419		150,132		135,116		30.4		42.6	45.6		46.3		41.3
Nevada	282,621		436,840	493,988	480,109	477,211	92,978		219,904	319,258		352,911		347,942		32.9		50.3	64.6		73.5		72.9
New Hampshire	206,919		194,001	175,789	167,761	168,781	31,212		48,904	43,493		35,510		35,146		15.1		25.2	24.7		21.2		20.8
New Jersey	1,312,983		1,356,882	1,372,553	1,325,442	1,333,641	357,728		444,735	523,960		469,976		456,540		27.2		32.8	38.2		35.5		34.2
New Mexico	320,303		335,810	329,903	316,811	316,765	174,939		227,077	237,085		234,984		236,853		54.6		67.6	71.9		74.2		74.8
New York	2,859,927		2,722,761	2,534,493	2,473,919	2,414,354	1,236,945		1,315,564	1,420,866		1,393,961		1,322,963		43.3		48.3	56.1		56.3		54.8
North Carolina	1,194,371		1,487,699	1,480,802	1,428,956	1,440,719	470,316		747,978	856,466		774,346		731,855		39.4		50.3	57.8		54.2		50.8
North Dakota	109,201		94,273	114,006	111,634	112,680	31,840		29,929	34,486		31,549		24,712		29.2		31.7	30.2		28.3		21.9
Ohio	1,745,237		1,747,851	1,688,420	533,660	550,570	494,829		745,121	768,403		346,738	3	225,251	3	28.4		42.6	45.5		65.0	3	40.9	3
Oklahoma	623,110		659,376	702,716	694,113	696,369	300,179		398,917	415,558		406,168		389,420		48.2		60.5	59.1		58.5		55.9
Oregon	535,617		553,468	549,400	60,184	532,064	186,203		280,174	262,911		27,942		124,494	3	34.8		50.6	47.9		46.4		23.4	3
Pennsylvania	1,798,977		1,742,608	1,543,296	1,659,509	1,649,286	510,121		686,641	782,049		864,391		858,603		28.4		39.4	50.7		52.1		52.1
Rhode Island	157,347		142,575	141,792	136,674	136,565	52,209		61,127	67,574		62,529		55,657		33.2		42.9	47.7		45.8		40.8
South Carolina	677,411		722,203	786,764	766,295	773,592	320,254		395,033	497,221		475,362		485,609		47.3		54.7	63.2		62.0		62.8
South Dakota	128,598		125,883	139,397	138,985	140,731	37,857		46,718	50,582		50,195		40,390		29.4		37.1	36.3		36.1		28.7
Tennessee	909,161	2	987,078	1,014,718	984,029	995,507	436,298	2	542,953	596,760	4	310,256	3	293,518	3	48.0	2	55.0	58.8	4	31.5	3	29.5	3
Texas	4,059,353		4,916,401	5,494,622	5,371,689	5,427,764	1,823,029		2,471,212	3,310,103		3,233,508		3,289,708		44.9		50.3	60.2		60.2		60.6
Utah	470,265		585,552	684,048	675,247	685,458	135,428		223,943	223,431		199,891		184,982		28.8		38.2	32.7		29.6		27.0
Vermont	102,049		85,144	83,230	78,854	80,388	23,986		31,339	29,220		27,347		27,650		23.5		36.8	35.1		34.7		34.4
Virginia	1,067,710		1,250,206	1,289,845	---	1,232,322	320,233		458,879	581,521		---		571,311		30.0		36.7	45.1		†		46.4
Washington	1,004,770	2	1,043,466	1,141,028	1,085,699	1,076,792	326,295	2	418,065	501,282		459,433		460,042		32.5	2	40.1	43.9		42.3		42.7
West Virginia	286,285		282,879	263,475	253,901	252,561	143,446		145,605	134,897		124,777		125,724	3	50.1		51.5	51.2		49.1		49.8	3
Wisconsin	859,276		872,164	853,696	829,041	822,492	219,276		342,660	339,283		354,471		324,879		25.5		39.3	39.7		42.8		39.5
Wyoming	89,895		88,779	94,481	92,666	92,746	43,483		32,968	32,731		30,785		26,213		48.4		37.1	34.6		33.2		28.3

---Not available.

†Not applicable.

1U.S. total includes imputation for nonreporting states.

2Imputation for survey nonresponse. State-level imputations for 2000-01 were based on the reported percentages for 2001-02 applied to the 2000-01 enrollments.

3This state reported only the count of students who were eligible based on direct certification. Direct certification is the process by which children are certified for free meals based on household participation in one or more means-tested federal assistance programs--such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--without the need for a household application.

4Imputation for survey nonresponse. State-level imputations for 2019-20 were based on the reported percentages for 2015-16 (the most recent year for which percentages were reported) applied to the 2019-20 enrollments.

NOTE: The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program. Table reflects counts of students enrolled in all schools for which both enrollment data and free/reduced-price lunch eligibility data were reported. Data for 2019-20 through 2021-22 include students whose NSLP eligibility has been determined through direct certification. The free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) counts show large shifts in the last several years in some states. These changes were due to (1) the Seamless Summer Option, which allowed schools to provide meals to all students, regardless of demonstrated need, beginning October 1, 2020, and (2) the shift away from in-person instruction (particularly for school year 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic), which may have caused a decrease in the number of students applying for FRPL because they were not present to apply for it.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 2000-01, 2010-11, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. (This table was prepared January 2023.)