This map shows the count and percent of children eligible for free or reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch Program for school year 2016-2017. Map is multi-scale, displaying data at both state and county levels.Data come from the County Health Rankings (layers referenced below) data set that references the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2016-2017 school year as the original source.Participating schools get federal funds for reimbursement for every lunch served to low-income students who participate in the program. The US. Dept. of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food and Nutrition Service administers the reimbursements. School meals are required to meet specific nutrition standards to operate the school meals program. Specific Income Eligibility Guidelines and FAQs are published by the USDA, but generally children qualify for free lunch if their household income is 130% of the Federal Poverty Level or below, and reduced-price lunch if their household income is between 131% and 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. For more information and data about children eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, see the NCES site.
