USDA Launches Food Environment Atlas

WASHINGTONUSDAs Economic Research Service launched the U.S. Food Environment Atlas as a tool for providing a spatial overview of a communitys ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. The Atlas documents such factors as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics, all of which influence food choices and diet quality.

Users can use the Atlas to create maps showing the variation in a single indicator across the U.S., such as the prevalence of obesity or access to grocery stores across U.S. counties, as well as to view all of the county-level indicators for a selected county, and identify counties sharing the same degree of multiple indicators; for example, counties with both high poverty and high obesity rates.

Click here to use the Food Environment Atlas.