Food accessibility in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods has caused increasing concern because of its potential impacts on public health and neighborhood development. This article proposes a new approach to test whether and to what extent inner-city neighborhoods are “underserved” in food markets controlling for multiple factors that may influence food supply levels. An improved measure of market potential is developed. Using the Boston metropolitan area as an example, we demonstrate that inner-city tracts have significantly lower levels of food store sales than non-inner-city tracts. The research helps to sort out the impact of multiple factors on food environment and contributes to more informed policy design to improve food access and revitalize inner-city neighborhoods.
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