Since 2013, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has conducted the Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey, which currently gauges 13-county area residents’ opinions, attitudes and perceptions about life in Metro Atlanta. In 2016, we began asking residents if they or members of their household ever had to reduce the size of their meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food. Regionally, about 17 percent of us have. The picture changes, as always, when you start taking a look by counties.

In the last 12 months, did you or members of your household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?

The map above shows that residents in Clayton County have the highest county level share of “Yes” responses (about skipping meals), at 23.4 percent. Cherokee has the fewest, at 9.24 percent. The chart below compares these county-level responses as well as rates for the City of Atlanta, which has the highest share of “Yes” responses of any geography in the survey.

While the map and county-level chart show some disparity among residents to the north and south portions of the region, a look at responses aggregated to these geographies shows that there isn’t as much disparity as one might expect — a little under three percentage points — as seen below.

For much of the survey’s history, ARC has consulted with the A.L Burruss Institute at Kennesaw State University on survey design and implementation. The United Way, along with other regional agencies and nonprofits have served as key project sponsors.

Click here to learn more about Metro Atlanta Speaks, and click here for the interactive data dashboard that includes these charts and more data about residents’ opinions about the state of life in the Metro.