# Food Insecurity Among Military Families Reaches Alarming Levels, Survey Finds
A new survey from the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) reveals that food insecurity among U.S. military families has surged dramatically, with more than two in five respondents reporting low or very low food security.
The MFAN survey, billed as the largest independent research effort dedicated to military families, examined family well-being and explored how the day-to-day experiences of military households affect overall force readiness. The organization collected over 10,000 responses in this cycle, with military spouses comprising the largest share of participants, followed by active-duty service members.
Conducted from October 2 through January 16, the survey found that 41.2% of respondents experienced low or very low food security — a sharp increase from just 15.6% in 2023.
While the data collection period overlapped with a government shutdown lasting more than a month, the findings underscore what researchers describe as a deepening financial crisis among those who serve. According to Gabby L’Esperance, MFAN’s vice president of research and evaluation, the food insecurity spike is part of a broader financial deterioration affecting military households.
“When we look at our food security numbers, we see an upward trend, but we see that in many other areas of the financial security section of the report broadly. We see that in financial well-being, we see it in housing burden, we see it in emergency savings, those who have experienced a financial emergency in the past two years, and so the trend is certainly growing. Families are having a more and more difficult time with finances, of which food insecurity is one symptom,” L’Esperance told Federal News Network.
## Rising Grocery Prices
For the first time in 2025, rising grocery prices emerged as a key factor preventing families from affording nutritious meals. One Air Force military spouse described the impact in stark terms: “Grocery prices have risen so high that eating healthy, balanced and varied meals became a luxury and we were constantly looking for ways to eat cheaper and reduce our grocery budget.”
While military families are not a uniform group, currently serving families appear to bear the heaviest financial burden. Some respondents reported relying on credit cards to purchase food, while others described skipping meals or cutting portion sizes so that other family members could eat.
The financial picture extends beyond food. More than a third of currently serving families in 2025 said they had less than $500 in an emergency savings fund — or no savings at all. About 36.7% of veteran and retiree family respondents, who performed better than currently serving families in several areas, also reported having less than $500 in emergency savings.
Rising grocery prices topped the list of barriers to building savings, followed by spouse employment challenges and housing costs.
“Grocery prices arrived for the first time as one of those main barriers to savings. That’s a new trend in 2025. We’ve seen housing costs, we’ve seen some other things trickling down before, none of those are as startling as grocery prices for the first time being a key barrier,” L’Esperance said.
## Broader Economic Pressures
The survey results were shaped significantly by broader macroeconomic conditions, including persistently high inflation. L’Esperance noted that military families essentially function as a microcosm of the United States, absorbing the same economic headwinds as their civilian counterparts — but with additional, unique stressors layered on top.
“We think about military family life as a microcosm of the broader United States, and so the economic impacts that civilian families are experiencing across our country are felt by military families too. Military families just have unique compounding factors, things like permanent change of station moves, things like the irregular rhythm of military life, deployments, training. So when we look at broader economics, yes, there is strain, and for military families, those things showed up in decreased emergency savings, in higher challenges with food security, with grocery prices being barriers,” L’Esperance said.
## Military Spouses Bear Disproportionate Burden
The survey also highlighted that military spouses, particularly those with children, continue to experience some of the most severe outcomes across multiple measures. L’Esperance characterized the challenges they face as “above and beyond what we’ve seen in previous years.”
“If we were going to pay attention to one population in this report, I would really encourage folks to look at those military spouses,” she said. “We know that they’re the folks managing the day-to-day life of military families. They’re carrying an invisible load, and some of that load is just part of functioning. Some of it is rewarding and meaningful, but when we see those things compound into what is a higher invisible load score, we see some negative outcomes across family health and well-being, and that shows up across many areas of the report like employment, childcare, community, family functioning. All of those things really co-locate around the military spouse and their role in the family.”
For the first time, the survey introduced the “invisible family load score,” revealing that spouses shoulder a disproportionate share of household responsibilities compared to their service member partners. This imbalance persisted even after families transitioned out of military life.
Perhaps most disturbingly, while the survey found that military families are increasingly open to seeking mental health support, military spouses were the most likely within their households to experience suicidal ideation. They were also the most likely to resort to emergency rooms for mental health care when unable to access a regular appointment.
“We did not see that trend in the 2023 survey,” L’Esperance noted.
“Of the folks that had used the emergency room for mental health care support in the last two years, 50% had done so multiple times,” she said.
“When we think about military spouses and the weight that they’re carrying across that invisible load score and compare that to their need for mental health support and the suicidal ideation, it paints a really clear picture about the need to address their well-being,” L’Esperance added.
## Policy Recommendations
MFAN’s research has helped drive major quality-of-life reforms in the past. The Senate Armed Services Committee drew on the organization’s study on military housing when crafting cornerstone legislation to overhaul privatized military housing. After MFAN’s research first brought food insecurity in the military to national attention, the group launched the One Million Meal Challenge, distributing over a million meals to military families in the areas where the data indicated the greatest need.
The new survey calls for a fundamental shift in how policymakers view military spouse well-being, urging that it be treated as a readiness issue rather than merely a quality-of-life concern.
“Military spouse well-being can no longer be viewed as a quality-of-life issue. It is a readiness issue, a retention issue, and ultimately a national security issue,” the report states.
MFAN also recommends that the government “completely modernize” the permanent change of station process and rebuild military family support systems that were established during the Global War on Terror.
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*This article is based on a report originally published by Federal News Network: [Air Force and Food Bank](https://federalnewsnetwork.com).*
