Posted by: Richie Bernardo

In an ideal world, children live carefree and have access to their basic necessities: nutritious food, a good education, quality health care and a sturdy roof over their heads. They need to feel safe and to be loved and supported by caring adults. When all such needs are met, children often have a strong chance of stability in adulthood. But in reality, not every child is so privileged — even in the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

The U.S., in fact, has the seventh highest rate of child poverty — over 29 percent — among economically developed countries. And by the end of the day, more than 1,800 cases of child abuse or neglect will have been confirmed, according to the Children’s Defense Fund.

But the plight of underprivileged children is different in every state. To determine where children are most disadvantaged, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 21 key indicators of neediness. Our data set ranges from share of children in households with below-poverty income to child food-insecurity rate to share of maltreated children. Read on for our findings, expert insight on solving major socio-economic problems plaguing children and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Main Findings

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/38262/geochart-privileged2017.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="http://ift.tt/2fpBBW5;  

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	‘Socio-economic Welfare’ Rank	‘Health’ Rank	‘Education’ Rank
1	Mississippi	69.08	2	1	5
2	District of Columbia	63.64	1	17	15
3	Nevada	62.71	4	5	2
4	New Mexico	58.29	15	20	1
5	Louisiana	58.07	10	7	4
6	Arizona	57.82	6	11	8
7	Alaska	57.35	17	3	3
8	West Virginia	56.12	3	15	13
9	Oregon	56.04	5	25	7
10	Arkansas	54.24	8	2	19
11	Oklahoma	52.59	7	4	24
12	Florida	51.96	14	10	16
13	Georgia	51.32	20	9	10
14	South Carolina	50.59	18	8	17
15	Montana	50.15	11	14	23
16	Kentucky	49.99	9	16	29
17	Alabama	49.40	12	6	30
18	Tennessee	48.76	13	18	27
19	Ohio	45.55	25	13	22
20	Michigan	45.04	28	22	12
21	Indiana	44.26	19	12	42
22	North Carolina	43.34	21	23	35
23	California	42.41	16	46	26
24	Missouri	42.05	23	26	32
25	South Dakota	41.70	32	27	14
26	New York	41.37	24	33	20
27	Washington	40.26	29	44	11
28	Maine	40.18	27	21	37
29	Texas	39.40	31	19	33
30	Rhode Island	39.36	26	38	25
31	Wyoming	39.36	46	30	6
32	Delaware	37.64	34	24	31
33	Hawaii	37.63	30	42	21
34	Idaho	35.12	42	41	9
35	Colorado	33.91	40	39	18
36	Kansas	33.33	36	28	41
37	North Dakota	32.90	38	37	28
38	Pennsylvania	32.81	33	40	40
39	Illinois	31.91	35	31	44
40	Nebraska	31.74	37	34	38
41	Vermont	31.40	22	51	47
42	Maryland	29.04	43	35	39
43	Virginia	27.90	45	36	43
44	Wisconsin	27.60	41	32	45
45	Minnesota	26.78	48	47	34
46	Massachusetts	24.65	39	43	50
47	Utah	23.98	51	29	36
48	Iowa	23.05	44	45	49
49	Connecticut	22.80	47	48	46
50	New Jersey	19.02	49	49	51
51	New Hampshire	17.61	50	50	48

*No. 1 = Most Underprivileged

 

Ask the Experts

All children deserve a meaningful childhood, but not every child will experience one. In order to identify key problem areas and learn how best to address them, we asked a panel of experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

1. Does being raised in poverty have lasting consequences for children in adulthood?
2. What are the most efficient and effective programs for equalizing opportunity for children?
3. Are elected officials placing a sufficiently high priority on the needs of underprivileged children? How might recent proposals to cut Medicaid influence health care access for children?
4. In evaluating the best and worst states for underprivileged children, what are the top five indicators?

Methodology

In order to assess the living and economic conditions of children across the nation, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Socio-economic Welfare, 2) Health and 3) Education.

We evaluated those dimensions using 21 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the worst conditions for children. Except where noted otherwise, all references to “children” in the metrics below refer to the population aged 0 to 17.

Finally, we determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Socio-economic Welfare – Total Points: 50

• Share of Children in Foster Care: Double Weight (~9.52 Points)
• Share of Children in Single-Parent Families: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Children Living with Grandparents & No Parent in the Home: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Children in Renter vs. Owner Households: Half Weight (~2.38 Points)Note: This metric measures the ratio of children living in renter-occupied housing units to children living in owner-occupied housing units.
• Unaccompanied Homeless Children & Youth Rate: Double Weight (~9.52 Points)
• Share of Children Living in Low-Income Households Where No Adults Work: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Children Living in Households with Below-Poverty Income: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Children Living in Extreme Poverty: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of children living in families earning incomes less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
• Economic Mobility: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)

Health – Total Points: 25

• Share of Maltreated Children: Double Weight (~2.50 Points)
• Child Food-Insecurity Rate: Full Weight (~5 .00 Points)
• Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 Births): Double Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Child Death Rate (per Capita): Double Weight (~2.50 Points)
• Share of Uninsured Children: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Share of Poor Children Lacking All Seven Recommended Vaccines: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: “Recommended vaccines” include the following: DTaP vaccine; polio vaccine; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine; Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine; varicella (chicken pox) vaccine; hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine; and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). “Poor children” include the population aged 19 to 35 months who live in households with incomes below poverty level.
• Share of Children with Unaffordable Medical Bills: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of children aged 0 to 17 living in families who had problems or were unable to pay for the child’s medical bills.

Education – Total Points: 25

• Public High School Graduation Rate: Full Weight
• Public High School Graduation Rate Among Economically Disadvantaged Students: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Young Children Not Enrolled in School: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: “Young Children” include the population aged 3 to 4.
• Quality of Public School System: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “States with the Best & Worst School Systems” ranking.
• Share of Teens Neither Attending School Nor Working: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: “Teens” include the population aged 16 to 19.

 

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from of the U.S. Census Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Educational Statistics, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Equality of Opportunity Project, Kids Count - Anney E. Casey Foundation, Feeding America and WalletHub research.

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