Reading the Atlas, County Tables, and State Maps

This atlas presents information on indicators that measure both food insecurity and hunger need, and program success in meeting citizen needs. We have identified sixteen indicators related to “need” and twelve measures of “performance.” In the county pages that make up the bulk of this report, readers will find county-level information on (A) general profile indicators, (B) need indicators, and (C) performance indicators.

 

The next few pages of this atlas give readers an overview of these three categories, as well as important information on how to read the county tables. This section also includes information on how to read the state maps included in this atlas.

 

County General Profile Indicators

At the top of each county page are nine general indicators, three each related to population, poverty and health. These give readers a general profile of the county context. We include poverty rates because poverty is the best predictor of food security in the United States. We present health variables due to the close correlations between food security, diet, and health status.

Need Indicators

The purpose of the “Need Indicators” is to provide measures of the extent of food insecurity and hunger in each Missouri County.

 

How to read the table of “Need Indicators”

 

The left side of each table provides information on sixteen indicators of food insecurity and hunger need. Four columns of information are presented for each variable. To demonstrate how to read this information, here is the first need indicator for Adair County (see Page 36)
 

	County	Trend	State	County Rank*
Food Insecurity
% of total population food insecure	16%	▬	13%	16

The first column, “County,” reports the result for the county on this indicator; in this case, 16% of Adair County’s total population is food insecure.

 

The second column, “Trend,” shows whether the county’s level has increased (▲), decreased (▼) or stayed the same (▬) for the period 2000-2005. If an increase or decrease is shown, this means a growth or decline of more than 5 percent over the trend period. The Adair County rate has not changed more than 5 percent in either direction over this time.

 

The third column, “State,” shows the average across all counties and St. Louis City for the indicator, in this case 13 percent.

 

The fourth column is labeled “County Rank.” This last column indicates the county’s rank, from 1 to 115, based on the location of that county on the list of all counties and St. Louis City. The county with the highest need (e.g., highest percentage of food insecure in this example) is ranked “1” and the county with the lowest need is ranked “115.” The example on Page 3 shows the level of food insecurity in Adair County is the 16th highest in the state.

 

The reader will find the designation “NA” where data is not available or appropriate to report.

Performance Indicators

The “Performance Indicators” provide county-level measures of the extent to which residents are participating in public and private programs intended to help residents cope with food insecurity. Knowing county needs, we now examine the success of programs established to addresses those needs.

How to read the table of “Performance Indicators”

The right side of each table provides information on twelve indicators of performance. Four columns of information are presented for most variables. To demonstrate how to read this information, here is the first performance indicator for Adair County (see Page 36):

 

	County	Trend	State	County Rank*
Food Stamp program Participation
% of total eligible	49%	▲	67%	107

The first column, “County,” reports the measure of the performance indicator for that county. In this case, the table reveals 49 percent of the total population eligible for Food Stamps participated in the program.

 

The second column, “Trend,” shows whether the county’s performance has increased (▲), decreased (▼) or stayed the same (▬) for the period 2000-2005. If an increase or decrease is shown, this means a growth or decline of more than 5 percent over the trend period. In this case, Adair County’s percent participation rate has increased more than 5 percent.

 

The third column, “State,” shows the average across all counties and St. Louis City for the indicator. The average Missouri participation rate is 67 percent.

 

The fourth column is labeled “County Rank.” The last column indicates the county’s rank from 1 to 115 based on where its location falls on the list of all counties. The county with the highest performance (e.g., highest percentage participation in this example) is ranked “1” and the county with the lowest performance is ranked “115.” Adair County’s rate of 49 percent is 107th out of the 115 in the state.

 

The reader will find the designation “NA” where data is not available or appropriate to report and “dnp” for programs in which the county does not participate.
 

State Maps

For selected indicators of food insecurity and hunger need and performance we provide maps to graphically represent patterns among Missouri’s 114 counties and St. Louis City. The maps allow the reader to quickly note the rankings of all counties in the state.

 

Each map divides the state into five equal fifths, or quintiles, according to the complete results for the measure. A quintile thus includes one-fifth of the counties in the state.

 

The quintiles on each need indicator map are arranged from lowest (the 23 counties with lowest need on that measure) to highest (the 23 counties with highest need). For example, “Food insecurity” rates for total county population range from a state low of 7.7 percent (St. Charles County) to a high of 19.6 percent (Pemiscot County). To make the state map of Food Insecurity need indicator for the total population, the 23 counties with the lowest levels of food insecurity (7.7 - 11.4 percent) are in the first, or lowest need, quintile. The second quintile includes the 23 counties next lowest in levels of food insecurity, with rates of food insecurity from 11.5 to 12.8 percent. This pattern continues to the fifth quintile or highest need group, which includes 23 counties with food insecurity rates from 15.3 to 19.6 percent.

 

Readers should go to the individual county tables to discover where a county falls within a quintile (high, low, or middle). For cases in which two counties had the same score at the border between two quintiles, we placed both counties in the lower quintile.

 

Final Notes

This atlas emphasizes percentages rather than absolute numbers. In other words, most of our indicators reveal the percentage of a county’s population that is, for example, food insecure or eligible for, or participating in, a particular program. With this approach, we are able to compare need and performance measures between counties with different population numbers. However, we should remind readers that emphasizing percentages and comparatively assessing need and performance percentages between counties could cloak important differences in the absolute numbers of people affected by any single variables. For example, the overwhelming number of people in Missouri’s highest populated counties, for example St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jackson County, means that the number, rather than level, of people who are food insecure, eligible for a program or participating in a program are almost always highest in these regions. St. Louis City, for example, appears to be doing well in participation rates for specific programs and has a higher participation rate than many other counties with lower numbers of eligible participants. However, a participation rate of 80% in a highly-populated county may mean that more people remain nonparticipants than in a county with a lower population and 70% participation rate.