South Carolina ranked the seventh hungriest state in the U.S.

Emily Bohatch | The State

For the first time in nearly a decade, the number of households struggling to buy food has gone up, something that hits home in South Carolina, according to a nonprofit’s study.

In 2017, the percentage of households going hungry increased by 0.6 percent, marking the first rise in food hardships since the Great Recession, according to the Food Research & Action Center.

South Carolina was ranked the seventh hungriest state in the U.S., according to the study, which used data collected by Gallup. About 18.3 percent of households in the Palmetto State struggle to put food on the table, which is less than a 4 percent difference from the hungriest state, Mississippi.

Columbia was also mentioned in the study as one of the hungriest cities in the country. About 19.5 percent of homes struggled with finding enough to eat during 2017, ranking the city as the 10th hungriest. That number is lower than the state average.

South Carolina was also mentioned as one of the states with the highest proportion of children suffering from food scarcity. Overall, about 19.9 percent of households with children were hungry, according to the study.

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More states in the Southeast made the list than in any other region, according to the study. Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida all made the top 15.

Traditionally, the Southeast suffered the most from food scarcity, but for the first time in years, it was surpassed by the Southwest area.

North Carolina was listed as the 17th hungriest state, with the Winston-Salem and the Greensboro-High Point area’s ranking in the top 20 areas suffering from food hardships.

The Augusta area, which included portions of South Carolina, was ranked the 11th most hungry, according to the study.

Other South Carolina cities fared better than Columbia. Charleston was ranked 69, with about 13.9 percent of households seeking food, which is better than the national average of about 15.7 percent. The Myrtle Beach area ranked 63, and the Greenville area ranked 39.