Hunger Facts An estimate 35.1 million Americans are food insecure (low food security and very low food security); meaning their access to enough food is limited by a lack of money and other resources. Of those 35.1 million, 22.7 million are adults (10.4 percent of all adults) and 12.4 million are children (16.9 percent of all children) (USDA/ERS Household Food Security in the United States, 2005). Ethnic breakdown (Feeding America, 2005): Non-Hispanic White: 40% Non-Hispanic Black: 38% Latino or Hispanic: 17% American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 6% According to the USDA, an estimated 12.4 million children lived in food insecure households in 2005 (USDA/ERS, Household Food Security in the United States, 2005). According to a recent hunger study, 66% of all food insecure households have annual household incomes at or beneath the poverty level (Hunger in America 2006; Table 5.8.4.1). The number of people below the poverty threshold numbered 36.5 million in 2006, a rate of 12.3% of all Americans (U.S. Census Bureau, Income Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006). More than one-third (35%) of food insecure households reported having to choose between buying food and paying their rent or mortgage (Hunger in America 2006, Table 6.5.1). In California, 11.7% of households were reported as being food insecure in 2005 (FRAC, State of the States-California, 2007).