Looking for a robust, user friendly tool to help you understand your communities’ food environment? The USDA has partnered with other top organizations in 2012 to develop the Food Environment Atlas.  The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors:

• Food Choices—Indicators of the community’s access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to a grocery store; number of foodstores and restaurants; expenditures on fast foods; food and nutrition assistance program participation; quantities of foods eaten; food prices; food taxes; and availability of local foods
• Health and Well-Being—Indicators of the community’s success in maintaining healthy diets, such as: food insecurity; diabetes and obesity rates; and physical activity levels
• Community Characteristics—Indicators of community characteristics that might influence the food environment, such as: demographic composition; income and poverty; population loss; metro-nonmetro status; natural amenities; and recreation and fitness centers.