Alicia VanOrman
Senior Research Associate
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book is an annual assessment of how children are faring in the United States and in each state. The 2021 Data Book—the 32nd edition—was published on June 21, 2021. In addition to providing annual state rankings, this edition includes information on the challenges children and their families are facing during the pandemic to present the most up-to-date picture of child well-being in the United States.
Members of PRB’s U.S. Programs staff have played an essential role in the production of the Data Book since its inception, providing feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index and compiling the data presented in the Data Book.
The annual assessment of child well-being in the 2021 Data Book is based on the most recent data available (2019 data for most indicators) and documents key trends since 2010. These data provide information about child well-being just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven of the 16 key indicators showed improvement, and only one indicator—the percent of babies born with low birth weight—worsened. The 2021 Data Book also highlights persistent racial and ethnicity disparities and shows that children of color continue to face steep barriers to success.
The 2021 Data Book draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and shows that households with children faced substantial challenges in 2020 because of the pandemic, including food and housing insecurity and access to a computer and the internet for educational purposes. However, the data also show the start of a recovery in the first few months of 2021. These experimental data provide the most comprehensive information on well-being during the pandemic for all 50 states.
The 2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book may be accessed at aecf.org/databook. Additional tools, maps, graphs, and data on many more indicators of child well-being are available at the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
For more information on the life disruptions and emotional and behavior consequences of the pandemic for children in California, the KidsData program at PRB provides quick access to data from responses to the “Family Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic” questionnaire.
The 31st edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book, an annual assessment of how children are faring in the United States and in each state, was published on June 22, 2020. The 2020 Data Book is based on the most recent data available (2018 data for most indicators) and documents key trends in child well-being since 2010. These data provide information about child well-being prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic. They do not reflect current conditions under the pandemic. Policymakers, researchers, and advocates depend on these regularly published data to highlight strengths and vulnerabilities for children and their families.
Members of PRB’s U.S. Programs staff have played an essential role in the production of the Data Book since its inception, providing feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index and compiling the data presented in the Data Book.
The 2020 Data Book reports that 11 out of the 16 key indicators showed improvement, and two indicators—the percent of babies born with low birth weight and the percent of children living in single-parent families—worsened.
The 2020 Data Book also highlights persistent racial and ethnic disparities in child well-being. Although the data show that children of all races experienced improvements across many of the 16 indicators of child well-being, deep inequities continue to persist. These large racial and ethnic gaps in child well-being indicate that children of color continue to face steep barriers to opportunities and success.
The 2020 KIDS COUNT Data Book may be accessed at aecf.org/databook. Additional tools, maps, graphs, and data on many more indicators of child well-being are available at the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
The 30th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book was published on June 17, 2019.
The KIDS COUNT Data Book, an annual assessment of how children are faring in the United States and in each state, features a comprehensive index of child well-being and includes a national profile and state-level rankings across four content domains: (1) Economic Well-Being, (2) Education, (3) Health, and (4) Family and Community.
PRB’s U.S. Programs staff have played an essential role in the production of the Data Book since its inception, providing feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index and compiling the data presented in the Data Book.
In celebration of the 30th edition, the 2019 Data Book includes analysis of changes in the size and composition of the child population since 1990, highlighting the implications for child well-being. Since 1990, the child population has become more racially and ethnically diverse and the share of children with at least one immigrant parent has more than doubled. Growth in the child population has varied across states, with the fastest growth in the South and West. Texas alone has nearly 2.5 million more children in 2017 than in 1990, accounting for more than a quarter of the national increase across this period. Although child well-being has improved in many ways since 1990, the fastest-growing and largest states also tend to be those with lower rankings on overall child well-being.
The 2019 Data Book highlights key trends in child well-being since 2010. Based on the most recent data available, 11 out of the 16 key indicators improved since 2010 and only one indicator—the percent of babies born with low birth weight—worsened.
National-level data can mask state and regional variations in child well-being. States in the Northeast tend to have the highest levels of overall child well-being. This year, New Hampshire ranked first and Massachusetts second. States in the South and Southwest tend to rank lowest in overall child well-being, with Mississippi (48), Louisiana (49), and New Mexico (50) having the lowest rankings this year.
Since 2010, children of all races experienced improvements across many of the 16 indicators of children’s well-being, yet deep inequities continue to persist. African American, American Indian, and Latino children are more likely than the average child to be poor, have parents who lack secure employment, and live in high-poverty neighborhoods. African American children have the highest rates of living in single-parent families, and American Indian children are the most likely to lack health insurance. Latino children are most likely to live with a household head who lacks a high school diploma and to not be in school when they are young. African American teenage girls and Latina teenagers have the highest rates of teenage childbearing. These large racial and ethnic gaps in child well-being indicate that children of color continue to face steep barriers to success.
The 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book shows that while substantial work remains to be done to secure a bright future for all children and young adults, many factors leading to children’s healthy development have improved since the release of the first Data Book in 1990 and since 2010. These results provide encouragement that the nation and states can advance the work needed to improve the prospects for all children. For the most recent national, state, and local data on hundreds of measures of child well-being, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2018 KIDS COUNT Data Book on June 27, 2018. The KIDS COUNT Data Book provides an up-to-date and detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States, nationally and in each state. The KIDS COUNT Data Book features a comprehensive index of child well-being and includes a national profile and state-level rankings across four content domains: (1) Economic Well-Being, (2) Education, (3) Health, and (4) Family and Community. The 2018 Data Book focuses on key trends in child well-being during the economic recovery following the Great Recession. Over the last six years, children experienced gains in economic well-being, but results were mixed for the Health, Education, and Family and Community domains.
This year, the Data Book also highlights the growing undercount of young children in each decennial census since 1980, and discusses the risks and implications of another undercount in 2020. Given the importance of the decennial census in determining federal funding for states and localities for the next decade, the Data Book outlines strategies that could help improve the count of young children in the 2020 Census.
Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has played an instrumental role in the KIDS COUNT Data Book since 1992. U.S. Programs staff provide feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index of child well-being and compile the data presented in the Data Book.
States in the Northeast tend to have the highest levels of overall child well-being. This year, New Hampshire ranked first and Massachusetts second. States in the South and Southwest tend to have lower levels of overall child well-being; Mississippi (48), Louisiana (49), and New Mexico (50) had the lowest overall child well-being rankings this year. State-level gaps in child well-being reflect variation in the resources available to children and in state- and local-level policy. Such state-level variation shows bright spots for child well-being and areas for continued improvement.
Since 2010, African American, American Indian, and Latino children experienced improvements across the 16 indicators of children’s well-being, yet deep inequities continue to persist. Children of color had lower levels of well-being than non-Hispanic white children on nearly all indicators that were tracked in the Data Book. These large racial and ethnic gaps in child well-being indicate that children of color continue to face steep barriers to success.
The 2018 KIDS COUNT Data Book demonstrates that many factors that lead to children’s healthy development have improved since 2010. The data also show that substantial work remains to be done to secure a bright future for all children and young adults. For the most recent national, state, and local data on hundreds of measures of child well-being, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book on June 13, 2017. The KIDS COUNT Data Book—now in its 28th year—provides an up-to-date and detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States, nationally and in each state. The KIDS COUNT Data Book features a comprehensive index of child well-being and includes a national profile and state-level rankings across four content domains: (1) Economic Well-Being, (2) Education, (3) Health, and (4) Family and Community. The 2017 Data Book reveals many bright spots for children and family well-being during the economic recovery following the Great Recession, yet room for improvement remains in many areas.
Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has played an instrumental role in the KIDS COUNT Data Book since 1992. U.S. Programs staff provide feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index of child well-being and compile the data presented in the Data Book.
Since 2010, outcomes for children improved on 11 out of the 16 indicators that are tracked as part of the Data Book.
Despite broad improvements in child well-being since 2010, stark differences across states remain. States in the Northeast tend to have the highest levels of overall child well-being and states in the South and Southwest tend to have lower levels of overall child well-being. State-level gaps in child well-being reflect variation in the resources available to children as well as state- and local-level policy variation. Such state-level variation shows bright spots for child well-being and areas for continued improvement.
Across the 16 indicators of children’s well-being, African American, American Indian, and Latino children experienced positive gains since 2010, yet deep inequities continue to persist. Children of color experience negative outcomes at a higher rate than non-Hispanic white children on nearly all indicators that are tracked in the Data Book. These large racial and ethnic gaps in child well-being indicate that children of color continue to face steep barriers to success.
In October 2017, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will release the second edition of Race for Results, which explores how children are progressing on key milestones across racial and ethnic groups at the national and state levels. U.S. Programs staff at PRB will play an integral role in developing this report.
The 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book demonstrates that in many respects children’s well-being in the United States is improving. The data also show that substantial work remains to be done to secure a bright future for all children and young adults. For the most recent national, state, and local data on hundreds of measures of child well-being, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
(June 2016) The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book on June 21, 2016. The KIDS COUNT Data Book—now in its 27th year—provides an up-to-date and detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States, nationally and in each state. The KIDS COUNT Data Book features a comprehensive index of child well-being and includes a national profile and state-level rankings across four content domains: (1) Economic Well-Being, (2) Education, (3) Health, and (4) Family and Community. The 2016 Data Book reveals that the current generation of children and teens are making strides in health and education, yet families with children continue to face significant challenges recovering from the Great Recession.
Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has played an instrumental role in the KIDS COUNT Data Book since 1992. U.S. Programs staff provide feedback on the design and measurement of the KIDS COUNT index of child well-being and compile the data presented in the Data Book. This year, ongoing research at PRB on teenage and young adult mortality in the United States helped provide deeper insight to the Casey Foundation and the KIDS COUNT state grantees about child and teenage health trends.
As the 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book shows, the child and teenage death rate has improved since 2008. However, a more in-depth analysis of teenage mortality by PRB reveals alarming trends that are masked by the general improvement in child and teenage death rates. PRB’s U.S. Programs staff analyzed mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and found that while the overall teenage mortality rate has been declining, the teenage suicide rate has been increasing since 2007. Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death among teenagers ages 15 to 19 in the United States. The higher overall suicide rate is driven by a rising suicide rate among teenage girls and growth in the use of suffocation as a method of suicide. Despite increases in the suicide rate, the United States is making progress in keeping children safe from harm—the overall improvement in teenage mortality is the result of large declines in traffic accidents and homicide death rates.
African American, American Indian, and Latino children continue to experience negative outcomes at a higher rate than non-Hispanic white children on nearly all indicators that are tracked in the Data Book. Children in the upper Midwest and New England are doing better than children in the South and Southwest.
The 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book demonstrates that in many respects children’s well-being in the United States is improving. The data also show that substantial work remains to be done to secure a bright future for all children and young adults. For the most recent national, state, and local data on hundreds of measures of child well-being, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
(July 2014) The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released a special 25th edition of the KIDS COUNT Data Book that highlights efforts since 1990 to raise awareness locally and nationally about how kids are doing and what policies and programs might lead to improvements in child well-being in the United States. The Population Reference Bureau provided key analysis and input.
The special edition finds that despite tremendous gains during recent decades for children of all races and income levels, inequities among children persist, and children of color face more obstacles to opportunity.
In assessing the context for 25 years of change in child well-being, the Data Book shows that between 1990 and 2012, the child population in the United States grew from 64 million to 74 million and exhibited a fundamental shift in racial and ethnic composition. The share of white children declined by 16 percentage points while the share of Latino children doubled. According to the Data Book, “by 2018, children of color will represent a majority of children, and by 2030, the majority of workers will be people of color. By the middle of the 21st century, no single racial group will comprise a majority of the population.”
While the report finds critical improvements in child well-being since 1990—a steady rise in the number of children attending preschool, an increase in the number of kids proficient in reading and math, increased access to health care, increased education levels of parents, and declines in the teen birth rate and the child mortality rate—some negative trends remain:
To examine more recent trends in child well-being between 2005 and 2012, the Data Book uses 16 indicators across four areas: Economic Well-Being, Education, Health, and Family and Community. The results show that while children have continued to progress in the areas of education and health, three of the four indicators of economic well-being continue to be worse in the postrecession years than they were in the years preceding the recession. Although the majority of economic indicators do show slight improvement at the national level compared with last year’s Data Book, the lagging economy continues to affect children adversely with more children living in single-parent families and high-poverty areas, and having parents who lack secure employment and have high housing-cost burdens.
According to the report, research shows that the best predictors of success for children are a healthy start, two married parents with adequate family income, doing well in school, avoiding teen pregnancy and substance abuse, and becoming connected to work and opportunity. The Data Book notes the differences in child well-being and long-term outcomes that can be made at the state and federal levels through smart policies, effective programs, and high-quality practices, and stresses that additional attention needs to be focused on reducing:
April 15, 2014
Senior Writer
The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently launched its Race for Results Index, a new collection of data developed by demographers at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). The index disaggregates data by racial and ethnic group and by state in order to measure the “impact of a child’s race on his or her opportunity for success in adulthood,” according to the foundation.
The foundation funds states, cities, and neighborhoods to find innovative ways to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families. The index was featured in the KIDS COUNT policy report, Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children.1
Policymakers are looking for easy ways to understand information. An index is a concise way to describe data over time, across different geographic areas, population groups, and domains.
The Race for Results Index compares how children are progressing on key benchmarks for health, education and family environment, and neighborhoods. The higher the score (on a scale of zero to 1,000), the better children in that group are doing. At the national level the index shows that no one group is meeting all of the benchmarks. African American, American Indian, and Latino children face some of the biggest challenges to opportunity. Asian and Pacific Islander children have the highest overall index score at 776, followed by white children at 704. Considerably lower are Latino children (404), American Indian children (387), and African American children (345).
The index is built on a complex set of data. PRB worked with the foundation to select 12 key indicators that have been linked to the likelihood of becoming middle class by middle age, and that reflect the importance of supportive families and communities to child well-being:
Across the indicators, the range in percentages varies widely (for example, the percent of babies born at normal birth weight has a much smaller range of possibilities compared to the percent of 4th graders reading at or above proficient), so PRB developed a standardized score in order to make comparisons on a scale of zero to 1,000. Each standardized score (the index) was presented for all states and racial groups.
Mark Mather, PRB’s associate vice president for U.S. Programs, helped develop the index. He points out the importance of being able to show the wide racial and ethnic gaps in well-being as they vary across the country. “What is most striking to me is the concentrated disadvantage of certain groups in certain parts of the country—American Indian children in the Dakotas, African Americans in the northern Midwest states, whites in Appalachia, and Latinos in parts of the Deep South,” he explained.
Although there has been some progress, such as good performance across all racial groups in delaying childbearing, the report reveals some alarming results. On most indicators, Latino children in immigrant families have the steepest obstacles to success. Other glaring problems across racial and ethnic group include:
As the United States becomes more diverse, the foundation hopes the Race for Results Index will be used by policymakers to equalize opportunity for all children.
According to data released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, overall improvements in child well-being that began in the late 1990s stalled in the years just before the current economic downturn.
“We won’t be able to assess the full impact of the economic downturn on children and families for a number of years,” said Laura Beavers, national KIDS COUNT coordinator at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “The economic data that the Census Bureau will release later this year will give a better picture of family economic well-being in the recession. However, even data from 2008 that was collected before the recession took hold shows economic conditions were worsening for kids.”
Based on trend data released by the Casey Foundation, the rate of children living in poverty in 2008 was 18 percent, indicating that 1 million more children were living in poverty in that year than in 2000. Experts project that more up-to-date Census data will show the child poverty climbing to above 20 percent. This year’s Data Book offers good news as well. More teens in 2008 across all five of the largest racial and ethnic groups were either in school or had obtained a high school diploma or General Education Diploma compared with teens in 2000.
According to the report, the teen birth rate fell from 48 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 in 2000 to 43 births per 1,000 females in this age range in 2007. However, there is bad news related to teen births. Although still below the rate of 2000, the teen birth rate did increase from 40 to 43 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 between 2005 and 2007.
Looking across all child well-being indicators, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Vermont rank highest, and Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi rank the lowest. Six states with the biggest improvements in their rankings between 2000-2007 (health data) and 2000-2008 (economic data) are New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois, Oregon, and Wyoming. The five states with the biggest drops in their rankings between 2000-2007 and 2000-2008 are Montana, South Dakota, Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii.
In addition to the 10 key measures tracked in the Data Book, the KIDS COUNT Data Center (http://datacenter.kidscount.org) provides easy, online access to the latest child well-being data on hundreds of indicators by state, county, city, and school district. It serves as a comprehensive source of information for policymakers, advocates, members of the media, and others concerned with addressing the needs of children, families, and communities.
(June 2008) National trends in child well-being have improved slightly since 2000, according to the 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book. The 2008 Data Book also presents a clear path to reducing the number of children and youth in America’s justice system. The annual Data Book, published by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation with technical assistance from the Population Reference Bureau, ranks U.S. states according to 10 indicators of child well-being.
The 2008 edition, the 19th KIDS COUNT Data Book, shows that children’s lives have improved in five areas, signified by declines in the child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and the percentage of teens who are not in school and not working.
But it also reveals setbacks in four other areas, and a lack of improvement in another:
“KIDS COUNT contains some good and bad news,” says Laura Beavers, coordinator of the national KIDS COUNT project at the Casey Foundation. “We continue to see that well-being indicators have largely gotten better for teens, and they’ve gotten worse for babies. The percent of babies born at low birth weight continues to increase, with the 2005 rate the highest reported since 1968.” Looking across all well-being indicators, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Massachusetts rank highest, and New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi rank the lowest.
This edition of the Data Book focused on the experience of U.S. children with the juvenile justice systems in each state, highlighting recent research and reforms that provide the basis for a fundamental, urgently needed transformation. In 2006, an estimated 92,854 youth were in the custody of juvenile justice facilities, with racial and ethnic minorities vastly overrepresented. Two out of three (66 percent) of all youth in custody were there due to a nonviolent offense.
“The state and federal government must take a much closer look at the problems that are entrenched in the juvenile justice system,” according to Douglas W. Nelson, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. “These problems often include harsh or abusive conditions; pervasive disparities in the treatment of youth by race and ethnicity; and disproportionate sanctions for minor and predictable misbehavior. We know and there is evidence to prove that with effective interventions, system reforms, and more effective policies, the system can produce better outcomes for young people.” In his introductory essay, Nelson makes a case for keeping youth out of the adult justice system, reducing incarceration, ensuring safe institutions, and eliminating racially disparate treatment.
The KIDS COUNT Data Book with state-by-state rankings, supplemental data, and the essay, “A Road Map for Juvenile Justice Reform,” can be viewed online at www.kidscount.org/datacenter/databook.jsp.