Thanksgiving Food Drive Statistics (2026): Hunger Data, Holiday Cost Pressure & Volunteer Supply
Verified 2026 data on food insecurity, holiday food waste, volunteer supply and the value of volunteer hours, with sources, to plan your Thanksgiving food drive.
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Thanksgiving is one of the busiest weeks of the year for food pantries, and it is also when many churches, schools and workplaces launch food drives. This report pulls together the most recent verified figures on food insecurity, holiday spending and food waste, and volunteer supply, so nonprofit and congregation leaders can plan with real numbers. It is part of our statistics hub for nonprofit leaders. For a step-by-step plan, see our Thanksgiving volunteer event guide.
Key takeaways
Hunger is rising, and the federal yardstick has changed
The federal government's household survey shows the strain plainly. The USDA Economic Research Service reports that 13.7% of households (18.3 million) were food insecure in 2024, while 5.4% (7.2 million) experienced very low food security. Both figures were statistically similar to 2023. Coverage from the Center for Strategic and International Studies describes the 2024 rate as the highest prevalence in nearly a decade, and notes that this was the last such federal report.
Who is going hungry: seniors, children and rural counties
Because USDA has stopped collecting this series, Feeding America's county-level modeling is now the main local reference. Its 2026 Map the Meal Gap release says child food insecurity reached as high as 45% in some places, and that more than 12 million seniors and older adults were food insecure. The same release notes that more than 8 in 10 counties with the highest rates are rural or in the South. Its overview summary adds that nearly half of food-insecure people earn too much to qualify for SNAP, and that the national food budget shortfall passed $33 billion in 2024. That gap is the reason holiday drives matter beyond one meal.
The Thanksgiving cost squeeze shapes who can give
Families are feeling the holiday price pressure, and that affects how they shop, host and donate. A 2025 consumer survey reported in Provisioner found that 53% of consumers planned to order takeout or delivery for Thanksgiving dinner, and that 59% planned to spend less than the prior year. The same survey attributed the cutbacks mainly to grocery costs. Separately, Campbell's survey coverage cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing food prices up 2.5% over the twelve months ending in September 2025.
The same survey found that 69% of those cutting back blamed grocery prices. For a food drive, the lesson is practical: households that can't buy a holiday meal are a larger share of your neighborhood than the headline unemployment rate suggests, and many donors are also trimming their own budgets.
The Thanksgiving waste paradox
While pantries run short, the holiday itself produces a large surplus. ReFED estimates 320 million pounds of food will be wasted on Thanksgiving, worth $550 million, which it equates to 267 million meals that could have gone to people in need. Its survey data from NielsenIQ found that more than 90% of hosts intentionally cook more than they need. That is a direct opening for food drives that collect perishable and prepared food from households, grocers and restaurants.
| Thanksgiving food-waste metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Food wasted on the holiday | 320 million lb | ReFED |
| Value of wasted food | $550 million | ReFED |
| Meal equivalent | 267 million meals | ReFED |
Volunteer supply is recovering, but not fully
The best national source on who volunteers is the biennial Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement, run by AmeriCorps with the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the Census Bureau, the 2023 formal volunteering rate was 1.7 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels, even after a 5.1-point rebound over two years. Formal volunteers in that period served an estimated 4.99 billion hours. USAFacts summarizes the same survey as an average of 66 hours per volunteer.
Who volunteers also matters for recruiting. In the 2023 data, AmeriCorps's release reported women at 30.9% and men at 25.6%, and parents of children under 18 at 37%, compared with 25% for adults without children at home. Most formal volunteers still serve in person. Per the Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, 82% of formal volunteers served completely in person in 2023.
Holiday drives rely on episodic volunteers who show up for a single shift. Turning that interest into reliable helpers is a recruiting problem, and it is also the point where screening becomes necessary. See our guide to
