Overview
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book, released Monday, finds the national child wellbeing score slipped from 553 in 2019 to 547 in 2024 with 29 states worse off than before the pandemic.
- Education led the decline with the education domain score falling from 518 to 417, driven by drops in reading and math proficiency across 47 states.
- Health also weakened as child and teen deaths rose about 8% from 2019 to 2024, a rise foundation officials tie to worsening youth mental health and increases in overdose and injury deaths.
- Economic strains are visible: the share of children in cost‑burdened households rose from 30% to 31%, affecting 22.4 million children, and early data point to falling Medicaid enrollment and rising uninsured rates for kids.
- The report shows wide state variation that links outcomes to policy choices: some states in the South made big gains after targeted investments while many lower-ranked states remain concentrated in the South, and long‑term trends like a 24% drop in teen birth rates since 2019 underline that policy and funding can change child outcomes.