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More than one-quarter of Fairfax County households face food insecurity, according to a Capital Area Food Bank report released in fall 2025, keeping the county’s rate close to a cited historic high.
The report placed the county’s food-insecurity rate at 26%, one percentage point below the cited peak of 27%. The supplied reporting did not identify when that peak occurred or explain how food insecurity was calculated.
Local organizations confronted that continuing need June 18 at the fifth annual Resource Rally in Herndon. StarKist, Feed the Children, Cornerstones and Floris United Methodist Church organized the event to provide supplies to area households and bolster five pantry programs and nonprofits along the Dulles Corridor.
Volunteers distributed 400 Feed the Children family kits representing more than 8,300 meals. Each kit contained StarKist products, a 25-pound box of shelf-stable food, a 15-pound box of household essentials and personal-care items, and a box of Avon products.
StarKist is headquartered in Reston Town Center.
The event brought together representatives of the participating community organizations, including Cornerstones board chair Andy Lacher and CEO Shannon Steene. Floris United Methodist Church was represented by spiritual formation director Bill Gray and serve and connections ministries director Debbie Cali.
Working households under pressure
The food bank report’s regional figures indicate that employment alone does not protect families from difficulty obtaining enough food. It found that 77% of food-insecure households in the region had at least one working adult. The geographic area covered by “the region” was not defined in the supplied reporting.
The report also said 41% of households affected by federal spending and employment cuts were already struggling to obtain food. That existing hardship can make a job loss, reduction in income or other financial disruption especially consequential for a household budget.
“Federal layoffs, inflation, and rising costs for groceries, gas and transportation are leading more families to turn to neighborhood pantries and feeding programs for support,” Steene said.
The economic figures cited with the food-insecurity data show a widening gap between pay and household expenses. According to the report, the Washington area’s overall cost of living increased 21% from May 2020, while regional wages rose 6% over the same period.
A separate statistic in the reporting said real wages in Greater Washington declined 12.1%, compared with a 2.7% decrease nationally. The supplied source did not explain how the 12.1% decline in inflation-adjusted wages relates to the reported 6% increase in regional wages.
Together, the figures describe households confronting higher everyday expenses even when an adult is employed. The Resource Rally offered immediate assistance through food, household goods and personal-care supplies while also adding inventory for organizations that provide continuing support along the Dulles Corridor.
The rally’s distribution totals and the county and regional statistics come from a single supplied account and were not independently corroborated by additional sources.