School lunch cost in 2026, and the numbers behind it.

students are served school lunch on an average day across more than 95,000 schools and institutions.

school lunches are served annually through the National School Lunch Program.

daily lunches are free, reduced-price, and full-price respectively, based on preliminary USDA FY 2025 data.

students are served school breakfast on an average day, with 2.6 billion breakfasts served annually.

of calories available in school lunches were wasted in the 2019 School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study.

of vegetables and milk, respectively, were discarded from lunch trays in that same national study.

food-waste intervention studies reviewed by SNA showed decreases in food waste.

was the reported range of food-waste decreases among interventions that improved waste outcomes.

children participated in school lunch during the 2023-2024 school year, up 6.8% from the previous year.

children received free or reduced-price lunch during the 2023-2024 school year.

had dedicated permanent state funding for free school meals as of the 2025-2026 school year.

of U.S. households with children were food insecure at some point in 2024, representing 6.7 million households.

in federal dollars supported the National School Lunch Program in FY 2025, including $17.1 billion in reimbursements and $1.7 billion in commodity costs.

is the combined base federal reimbursement for a free lunch in the contiguous states during SY 2026-2027, before the additional performance-based amount.

is the typical paid lunch range reported for elementary, middle, and high school students in SY 2025-2026.

was the increase in National School Lunch Program payment rates for SY 2026-2027, based on the Food Away From Home consumer price index.

in additional federal cash assistance is available for each reimbursable lunch served by schools certified to meet the meal pattern and nutrition standards in SY 2026-2027.

was the average pre-pandemic gap between the cost to produce a school lunch and the average free-lunch subsidy.

of programs that do not offer free meals to all students reported unpaid meal debt or charges in SNA's SY 2025-2026 survey.

was the median reported unpaid meal debt in fall 2025 among surveyed programs.

in total unpaid meal debt was reported by surveyed districts in 2025, up from $20.3 million in 2024.

of districts that charged for meals reported challenges with unpaid school meal charges or debt in the SY 2024-2025 Trends Report.

of the U.S. food supply is estimated to be wasted, according to USDA food loss and waste estimates.

of wasted food was generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors in 2019.

of material in U.S. municipal solid waste landfills is food, making prevention one of the most important waste strategies.

of fugitive methane emissions from U.S. municipal solid waste landfills are estimated to come from landfilled food waste.

is the federal lunch service window for school meal programs, with exemptions handled through state agencies.

is the CDC-recommended minimum seated eating time for students once they have their lunch.

was the median total lunch period reported in SNA's State of School Nutrition 2018 survey, before travel and line time are subtracted.

of responding school nutrition directors reported at least one staff vacancy in the SY 2024-2025 Trends Report.