Minority Communities and “Pharmacy Deserts”: The Rising Crisis
For policymakers weighing legislation, the facts are clear: pharmacy closures are triggering a rising crisis in minority neighborhoods—creating “pharmacy deserts” that limit access to lifesaving medications and essential healthcare services for Black, Latino, and other underserved populations.
What Are Pharmacy Deserts, and Who Is Affected?
A pharmacy desert is a neighborhood where most residents live more than a mile from the nearest pharmacy. Today, 17.7% of the U.S. population—57.1 million people—reside in pharmacy deserts. These deserts disproportionately affect minority, low-income, and chronically ill communities:
Over half (54%) of segregated Black communities and a third (34%) of Hispanic communities are classified as pharmacy deserts, compared to just 5% of segregated white communities.
In major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston—where over 80% of Black and Latino Americans live—pharmacy access is consistently lower for minorities. These areas are further hit when pharmacies close, often resulting in the loss of the only nearby source for medications, vaccines, and basic care.
Real Stories and Impacts
Neighborhoods losing their last pharmacy: Research shows that closures most often target low-income, minority neighborhoods. When these pharmacies shut down, patients are left facing long travel times, higher transportation costs, and increased risk of missed doses or delayed treatment.
Chronic illness and poor outcomes: Pharmacy deserts are directly linked to medication nonadherence. In neighborhoods with high rates of diabetes, hypertension, or HIV, lack of a pharmacy means poorer disease management and more hospitalizations.
Access to care goes beyond prescriptions: Pharmacies provide immunizations, overdose reversal medicine (naloxone), contraception, and health advice. Minority neighborhoods in pharmacy deserts are less likely to have access to these critical services—and even a half-mile further distance can be a significant barrier for seniors and those with disabilities.
Data-Driven Urgency for Action
More than 80% of U.S. counties lack proper access to healthcare and pharmacy services, home to over 120 million Americans—including majorities in many minority-majority districts.
Between 2010 and 2021, over 29% of pharmacies closed nationwide—with closures concentrated in minority and low-income areas, driving pharmacy deserts to historic highs.
The Path Forward: Accountability Without Harm
As lawmakers consider action in this space, the goal must be clear: protect patients first. That means promoting legislation that holds all players in the prescription drug supply chain—drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefits managers, insurers, and pharmacies—transparent and accountable to the same fair standards.
Transparency should apply across the board—pricing, contracting, and reimbursement—so no entity can hide behind complexity while driving up costs or limiting access. Accountability should be even-handed, ensuring that no single part of the system is unfairly targeted while others operate without scrutiny.
Crucially, policymakers must avoid overregulation that unintentionally accelerates pharmacy closures, especially in Black, Latino, and rural communities already on the brink of becoming pharmacy deserts. Well-intentioned but imbalanced laws can strip away the very lifelines residents depend on, deepening health inequities and increasing long-term healthcare costs for states and taxpayers alike.
Stable, fair policy—built on equal rules for every link in the drug supply chain—is the only way to truly lower prescription drug costs without sacrificing access to care for the communities who need it most. Anything less risks widening divides and leaving millions of Americans behind.
About Save My Pharmacy
Save My Pharmacy (SMP) is a national coalition of community advocates united to protect access to affordable prescription drugs and essential pharmacy services. We advocate for policies that preserve a robust network of pharmacies—independent, retail, chain, and PBM-operated—serving minority communities, rural areas, and veterans. In the face of Big Pharma–backed legislation that threatens to shut down pharmacies and raise drug costs, SMP works to ensure every American has nearby, affordable, and reliable access to the medications and care they need.
