CODY — More than 94,000 Wyoming residents are food insecure, according to Feeding America’s latest Map the Meal Gap report, an increase of 4,000 people in a single year and the highest rate the state has seen in more than a decade.
In Park County, food pantries and senior services say the numbers on the page match what they’re seeing at their front doors.
The report, compiled annually by Feeding America and cited by the Food Bank of Wyoming, also found that 25,700 Wyoming children are experiencing food insecurity as families struggle to keep up with the cost of housing, health care and groceries. That number equates to 1-in-5 Wyoming youth, or 20% of all children in the state.
“These aren’t just statistics, these are our neighbors,” said Danica Sveda, executive director of Food Bank of Wyoming, in a statement. “These are real people, families, children and older adults, having to choose between putting food on the table or paying for housing, health care or other essential items.”
Wyoming now ranks 11th in the nation for food insecurity per capita, said Olivia McCarthy, director of development for the Food Bank of Wyoming. Last year’s data put the rate at 1-in-7 adults; this year it rose to 1-in-6.
“We are 11th in the country for food insecurity per capita, and I just think that’s due to the rural and frontier nature of our state,” McCarthy said. “It’s hard to get food for some people who are in need.”
McCarthy said the state saw a similar spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year’s numbers mark the highest rate in at least 10 years outside of that period. She pointed to a more recent factor as well: the federal government shutdown last fall, when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were paused from October to December.
“We realized very quickly that, as a state, we don’t have the infrastructure to be able to handle the food insecurity issue in Wyoming without something in place like SNAP,” McCarthy said.
Food Bank of Wyoming sources, stores and distributes food to more than 170 hunger relief partners in all 23 counties, including food pantries, senior centers and crisis centers. The organization also runs 12 mobile pantries each month in underserved areas and distributes government commodity boxes to income-qualified seniors and families. September is Hunger Action Month, and the food bank is asking Wyoming residents to donate, volunteer or spread the word under the slogan, “We all gotta eat.”
Local pantries feel the pressure
In Cody, the Cody Cupboard has tracked the trend closely. Chairman of the board Josh White said the pantry’s numbers for the first seven months of 2026 are running close to last year’s — but 2025 itself was a sharp jump from 2024, with a 15% increase in the number of households served and a 20% increase in individuals.
White said the pantry isn’t necessarily serving more people this year so much as bigger households.
“We think we could attribute that maybe to multi-generational households — parents moving in with children or vice versa,” White said. “We’re seeing the same number of people, but the size of the household is increasing,” which does affect access to meals.
The Cody Cupboard, run entirely by volunteers, recently partnered with Food Bank of Wyoming to gain access to free or low-cost fruits and vegetables, which White said have otherwise been difficult and expensive for the pantry to buy retail. The pantry’s annual food drive is set for Nov. 7 at the Cody Auditorium; last year’s drive collected 13,855 pounds of food.
At the Cody Senior Center, Stephanie Weed, the center’s executive director, said there’s been a sharp increase in seniors relying on Rolling Meals, the center’s independent version of Meals on Wheels.
“We serve anywhere from 120 to 220 Rolling Meals to our neighbors who are at home. Every single day,” said Weed. “We have grown tremendously, though. … In the past year, we’ve had a 30% increase in the number of Rolling Meals that we are providing.”
Seniors have told Weed that their Rolling Meal might be their only meal of the day.
For Weed, the need has been indicative: “It’s showing that food insecurity is a real thing,” she said.
In Powell, the food pantry at St. John’s Episcopal Church has seen a sharper rise in need. Co-organizer Deb Ross, who runs the program with Sue Woods, said the pantry, which started in 2024 and once gave out about 30 bags of groceries a week, now averages 70 bags a week. In August 2025, the pantry served 194 households, feeding 481 people; in August 2026, that rose to 283 bags, feeding roughly 696 people.
“Our big increase started last summer,” Ross said, adding that the rise has coincided with rising housing costs and stagnant wages. She estimated about 70% of the pantry’s clients are 50 or older living on fixed incomes, with the rest largely young families.
“Jobs around here do not pay well,” Ross said. “Even shopping for the food pantry, I’m shocked at how much things cost.”
The Powell Senior Center has also seen an increase, said Director Linda Dalton, who has worked there for 22 years and led the center for the past six. The center asks for a $4 contribution per meal — a fraction of the roughly $12 actual cost, which is offset through a bulk-purchasing partnership with food distributor Cisco — but many clients can’t afford even that.
“There is definitely a huge hunger issue in this area,” Dalton said.
Dalton said she began noticing more clients unable to pay about three years ago, a shift she connects to rising property taxes and an influx of new residents driving up housing costs.
“It’s just the cost of living has just skyrocketed, and our people are on fixed incomes,” Dalton said. “Nothing like this” has happened in her tenure, she added.
The center also sells frozen entrees for $2 to help seniors who can’t afford a second meal that day, and any senior 60 or older can eat at the affiliated Rocky Mountain Manor, which serves meals Monday through Saturday.
Food Bank of Wyoming officials say the scale of the problem is often underestimated because of a cultural reluctance to ask for help.
“There is still that stigma that Wyoming walks around with that ‘Cowboy-up, you’re fine’ kind of mentality,” McCarthy said. “We all gotta eat. This is not the time to be prideful.”
Sveda said addressing the issue will take a statewide effort that needs community involvement.
“We can’t solve the problem of hunger or food insecurity in our region without our hunger relief partners, or our volunteers and donors,” she said.
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