Some parts of Alabama are among the nation’s most reliant on food benefits, data shows.

About 15% of Alabamians will feel the impacts of a pause on Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program benefits if a weekslong government shutdown does not end by Nov. 1. That’s about 754,000 people – many of whom are children, senior citizens and individuals with disabilities.

But the need is much more pronounced in some of the state’s rural Black Belt counties, AL.com found, where as many as one in three residents received SNAP benefits in 2024.

Few other counties in the U.S. have higher enrollment rates than west Alabama’s Wilcox, Perry and Dallas counties, according to a recent report from the Associated Press.

Can’t see the map? View it here .

Nearly half of Alabama households receiving food

See Full Page