Press Release from the UC Davis Labor and Community Center:
Davis, CA (February, 2026)
Humboldt County has shown steadily increasing enrollments in CalFresh over the past 10 years, according to a new UC Davis Labor and Community Center report.
Drawing on data from the California Department of Social Services, the UC Davis Labor and Community Center analyzed CalFresh usage rates among age groups, under 18, 18 to 59, and 60 and above. The Center found that every age group in Humboldt County saw increased CalFresh enrollment between 2014 and 2024, but the 18 to 59 age group far outpaced statewide rates and increases in those rates. Median household incomes in Humboldt County have fallen further behind statewide averages, and the rate of full-time workers living in poverty in the county nearly doubled in ten years.
Key Findings:
- The number of Humboldt County residents receiving CalFresh has steadily increased over the last 10 years, totaling over 30,000 individuals in 2024, up 55.5% since 2014.
- In 2024, the CalFresh enrollment rate in Humboldt County reached 22.4%, outpacing the statewide average in California of 14.3%.
- In 2014, Humboldt County had the 19th-highest CalFresh enrollment rate among California’s 58 counties, but by 2024 it had risen to 9th in the state.
- Over 1 in 4 children in Humboldt County (28.4%) were enrolled in CalFresh in 2024, along with over 1 in 6 seniors age 60+ (17.5%).
- Humboldt’s rank among counties with the highest enrollment rates for working-age adults rose from 16th-highest in California in 2014 to 5th-highest in 2024, as 22.4% of Humboldt County residents age 18 to 59 were enrolled in CalFresh, over twice the statewide rate of 11.1%.
- Despite the disparity in CalFresh enrollments in working-age adults, Humboldt County’s unemployment rate has consistently tracked just below the statewide rate.
- Median household income in Humboldt County, in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars, increased $17,526 from 2014 to 2024, compared to a $38,216 increase in the statewide average. Humboldt County’s income growth was only 43.2% compared to 61.7% statewide.
- A disproportionately high percentage of workers in Humboldt County work full-time, year-round, yet live in poverty. In 2014, this rate in Humboldt County was slightly lower than the statewide average, 3.5% versus 3.6%. In 2024, however, the statewide figure decreased to just 2.2%, while in Humboldt County it rose significantly to 6.2%.
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The Labor and Community Center of the Greater Capital Region, based at the University of California, Davis’s School of Law, launched in January 2023. It is one of several newly established Labor Centers across the University of California system due to advocacy on the part of the California labor movement. The Labor and Community Center at UC Davis is committed to advancing community-engaged research that supports the interests of working people, with a specific focus on issues relevant to those living and working in the greater Capital region and parts of northern California, supporting public education around workers’ issues, training to develop workers’ leadership, and shaping narrative change around labor organizing and the labor movement