Employed

Per Capita Income

Above Poverty

Economic

Preschool Enrollment

Bachelor's Education

High School Enrollment

Education

Voting

Census Response

Social

Automobile Access

Active Commuting

Transportation

Insured Adults

Healthcare Access

Retail Density

Park Access

Tree Canopy

Neighborhood

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Renters

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Homeowners

Housing Habitability

Uncrowded Housing

Homeownership

Housing

Ozone

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Diesel Particulate Matter

Safe Drinking Water

Clean Environment

Extreme Heat

Impervious Surfaces

Outdoor Workers

Public Transit Access

Sea Level Rise

Two Parent Households

Alcohol Availability

Supermarket Access

Decision Support

Everyone should have access to healthy food options in their community. Having access to a nearby supermarket can encourage a healthier diet and eating behaviors, lower the costs of obtaining food, reduce chronic diseases, and lower the risk of food insecurity. Hundreds of studies have documented that people who live close to a supermarket have healthier diets and better health outcomes.

 Living near a supermarket provides greater food security and convenience, especially for households with busy schedules who may not have time to shop for groceries more than once a week. For those without access to a car, being able to walk, bike or take public transportation to a supermarket can impact their health. When supermarkets are far away, people have reduced access and may have to travel long distances to obtain food or make use of closer options which may be limited to fast-food retailers and convenience stores, often offering less nutritional meals and food. Studies have shown that adults without a nearby supermarket are 25 to 46 percent less likely to have a healthy diet than those with one near their homes.

 This is especially true for low-income and communities of color, who are more likely to live in neighborhoods without a supermarket. For instance, African Americans are 32% more likely to meet dietary guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption if they live near a supermarket.

 The presence of a supermarket and other healthy food options in one’s neighborhood is a community condition that impacts health. Improving supermarket access can be a key strategy in creating healthier places.

This indicator measures the percentage of people in urban areas who live less than a half mile from a supermarket/large grocery store, or less than 10 miles in rural areas.

UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, “Gentrification, Displacement and the Role of Public Investment: A Literature Review,” March 3, 2015, http://iurd.berkeley.edu/uploads/Displacement_Lit_Review_Final.pdf.

Food Trust and PolicyLink, 2013. Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research, available at http://www.healthyfoodaccess.org/resources-tools/library/access-healthy-food-why-matters

Moore, L.V. et al., 2008. Associations of the local food environment with diet quality--a comparison of assessments based on surveys and geographic information systems: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 167(8): 917-24.

Improving supermarket access requires a range of strategies to assess the existing healthy food environment, determine the market feasibility for new supermarkets and other healthy food options, plan for equitable access, and plan for a healthier neighborhood. Communities should first seek to 

. A good place to start is by reviewing the 

’s recommendations for financing new healthy food options, including supermarkets but also smaller-scale providers like farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSAs). Local governments should also 

Plan Communities to Support Healthy Food Access

, incorporating healthy food access into the General Plan, site plans, smart growth efforts and other land use and transportation planning efforts. They should also ensure that transportation options are available to existing and future healthy food outlets, including public transportation for those without cars. Communities should also 

 for small businesses, job training providers, and other employment and workforce services that can support a healthy food system within the community. Jurisdictions are encouraged to explore the use of community land trusts and other land preservation strategies to ensure that each neighborhood’s mix of destinations is culturally and economically appropriate to current residents.

Improving supermarket access is not as simple as building a new grocery store. It requires planning and a community-involved process to identify where there are gaps in healthy food access and assessing the types of options available. Financing is usually a barrier to these efforts, but grants are available from the federal 

 and other funding sources. The Healthy Food Access Portal’s 

List of California Healthy Food Financing Examples

 also provides local examples of communities in California that have been successful in improving supermarket access and building healthier communities.

Data can be collected, shared, analyzed and used to identify community needs and prioritize strategies to advance equity.

Healthy Neighborhoods

Climate

Health

Equity

Strong Evidence

Collect, Analyze, and Use Disaggregated Data

Best Practice

Track Impact Data

Help lift whole communities economically with healthy food efforts.

Sufficient Evidence

Worker Cooperative Support Initiatives (Emerging Practice)

Community Power and Connection

Small Business Retention Initiatives

Raise Wages and Benefits

Community Land Trusts

Integrate healthy food systems into land use, transportation, housing and other plans created for the community.

Pollution

Promising

Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing

General Plans

Healthy Transportation Access

Emerging

Environmental Justice Element (SB 1000)

Encourage development of new supermarkets in communities without them, and identify other strategies for providing healthy food within existing communities.

Policy Guide

Supermarket Access

References