An Analysis of Healthy Food Access in Chicagoland area from 2007-2014

Lack of equity in food access in the Chicagoland area may contribute to health disparities among Chicagoans that reside in communities with insufficient access to healthy food sources.  Major factors that contribute to individuals’ access to healthy foods include: (1) proximity to supermarkets; (2) segregation of racial and ethnic communities; (3) socioeconomic differences across communities; and (4) differences in chain versus non-chain stores, including factors associated with cost and food availability (Walker et al, 2010).  In Chicago, African Americans living in communities impacted by food scarcity have to travel greater distances to access any type of grocery store with healthy food options (Gallagher, 2006).  Furthermore, the ratio of fast-food stores per square mile is six times higher in predominately African American neighborhoods versus predominately White neighborhoods (Block, 2004). We conducted a spatio-temporal analysis to identify healthy food access (and food deserts) across urban regions of seven counties of the metropolitan Chicagoland area in 2007, 2011, and 2014. Supermarket locations identified by curated datasets were validated by comparison and field verification. Mean street network distance to supermarkets for each Census tract was calculated using geospatial raster techniques. After accounting for population distribution and boundary affects, a spatial cluster analysis identified areas with low and high food access with a p value <0.01. High proportion of African American residents, households in poverty, and children in poverty in low food access areas emerged as consistent trends in all exploratory spatial analyses across all years. Final results suggest a stable food oasis in the Northern region of Chicago, even after the closure of dozens of supermarkets in early 2014, and persistently vulnerable, low food access areas in the Southern and Western regions of Chicago.