Food pantry workers process donations at Kadena Air Base in Japan on Jan. 13, 2026. Polling by Blue Star Families found that 22% of participants in a survey for 2025 had used a food pantry or received food from a military food distribution center in the past 12 months. (Jamal Berry II/U.S. Air Force)
More than a quarter of military families polled in the most recent annual survey by a leading aid organization for service members and veterans said they consistently struggle to put food on the table.
That is among the financial strains of military life that make it a challenge to meet basic needs, Blue Star Families found as part of the nonprofit’s Military Family Lifestyle Survey for 2025.
Frequent relocations, out-of-pocket expenses for military moves, child care shortages, and interruptions of a spouse’s education and career are contributing factors to the financial hardships of U.S. personnel, according to the survey.
The data highlight “how persistent, service-connected financial pressures continue to shape military family life,” the organization said last week in a statement releasing the survey’s findings.
About 28% of survey respondents were categorized as having “low or very low” food security, an increase from 16% in 2023, when that category was last reported, according to the survey.
In addition, 22% of participants said they used a food pantry or received food from a military food distribution center in the 12 months preceding the survey, while 30% of active-duty respondents said they “often or sometimes” could not afford to eat balanced meals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life, according to Blue Star Families.
Struggling to meet basic needs because of financial strain was something cited frequently in the Military Family Lifestyle Survey for 2025 done by Blue Star Families. Food insecurity was particularly prevalent among respondents. (David Tracy/U.S. Air Force)
“That should be a call to action for the government, for the services and, frankly, for the private- and public-sector support to get after this challenge,” said Lindsay Knight, Blue Star Families’ chief impact officer, according to the Deseret News.
“If our military families aren’t getting quality, healthy meals, that endangers the viability or the sustainability of the all-volunteer force in the future,” she said.
The 2025 survey drew responses from more than 6,000 military-connected respondents, including a cross-section of active-duty service members and their spouses or domestic partners.
The top issue, identified by 50% of survey participants, was military spouse employment, followed by military pay (48%) and time away from family (39%). Child care, housing and child education concerns all registered at 33%.
Military spouses in the survey reported an unemployment rate of 23% in 2025. That compares with an average nationwide figure of 4.4% last year. Although 67% said they were in the labor force, 70% identified as being underemployed.
Those rates remained stagnant compared with the 2024 survey, in which a majority (66%) also reported experiencing some level of underemployment, such as pay not matching work experience or education or being overqualified for one’s position, according to the 2024 survey findings.
Child care shortages contribute to difficulties maintaining and seeking employment, the survey found, and respondents also expressed concerns with the high cost of child care and the quality of care.
“There are bright spots,” Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet said. “Congressional efforts to improve quality of life have impact. Community programs to welcome and integrate military families lessen the otherwise growing food insecurity, spouse unemployment and related strains caused by frequent moves, family separations and uncertainty of military life.”
Among survey respondents, families of enlisted service members on active duty reported a greater prevalence of financial and food insecurity than officers’ families.
Just over half of enlisted personnel’s families said they were “just getting by” or “finding it difficult to get by” financially, compared with 17% of officers’ families; 40% of enlisted families reported experiencing food insecurity, compared with 9% of officer families, according to the findings.
The proportion of active-duty family respondents who reported their family financial situation as “living comfortably” or “doing OK” was 62%, the same as 2024 survey findings, but it continues to be lower than the 72% overall for U.S. adults, according to the data.
Also, 37% of respondents said they would recommend joining the military to a family member, up from 32% in 2024. In 2016, the number was 55%.
