One in eight Toronto children now relies on food banks

One in eight Toronto children now relies on a food bank, nearly double the one in 15 of 2022, Daily Bread Food Bank said in Who’s Hungry 2026, its yearly study of hunger in the city.

Daily Bread, a non-profit that supplies about 220 food banks across Toronto, counted 4.1 million visits this year. That is the second year in a row above four million, and more than four times the number in 2019.

Most visitors come back: returning clients now make up 84% of visits, up from 47% two years ago. And many of them work. Of all clients, 39% are employed and 61% have a post-secondary degree.

Those with permanent jobs earn a median of $20 an hour. That is above Ontario’s minimum wage of $17.95, but $7.20 below the $27.20 Daily Bread gives as Toronto’s living wage, the pay needed to cover basic costs here.

Rent takes most of what clients have. After housing, the median client has $8.33 a person a day. And one in four spends their whole income on rent, up from one in five in 2025.

Global News names the cost of living, and the tariff war with the United States, among the pressures behind demand. Groceries have led the rise in living costs: food prices in Ontario stores rose 27% in the five years to September, against 18% for prices overall, Statistics Canada figures show.

PROOF, a University of Toronto research group, adds that food bank counts understate hunger: far more people live in food-insecure households than use food banks. Across Canada in 2025, that meant 24.0% of people, and 30.8% of children.

Daily Bread chief executive Neil Hetherington said Toronto cannot accept millions of food bank visits as a normal part of city life. The report asks the City for $100 million a year, ongoing, for its Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition program, which preserves affordable housing.

Sources: Daily Bread Food Bank · Global News · Statistics Canada · Oxford Today (Ontario minimum wage) · PROOF, University of Toronto