Arkansas ranks 45th in latest child well-being ranking

Arkansas ranks 45th in child well-being in the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The state’s percentage of children without health insurance increased, while its teen birth rate continued to decline but remained higher than the national average.

Broken down by the four domains the Casey Foundation uses to create its ranking, Arkansas ranked 47th in health, 45th in economic well-being, 45th in family and community, and 36th in education.

Each of the domains had four indicators, most of them comparing 2023 numbers with those in 2019. Arkansas ranked worse than the national average in 13 indicators and better in three: the percentage of children living in households with a high housing cost burden; the percentage of high school students not graduating on time; and the percentage of children in families where the household head lacked a high school diploma.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a Baltimore-based private philanthropy that focuses on strengthening families and communities, and providing access to opportunity. It provides grants to federal agencies, states, counties, cities and neighborhoods. This is its 36th annual report.

This year, Arkansas ranked behind Texas at 44 and ahead of Oklahoma at 46 followed by Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico. The top five states were New Hampshire at No. 1 followed by Vermont, Massachusetts, Utah and Minnesota.

Arkansas also ranked 45th last year. It was 43rd in 2023 and 2022 and 39th in 2021.

In the health domain, Arkansas fared worse than the national average in all four indicators, and it fared worse than it did compared to the previous year.

Those included the percentage of children without health insurance, which rose from 6% in 2019 to 7% in 2023. It had been 6% the year before. The national average of 5% in 2023 was better than the 6% of 2019. Fifty thousand (50,000) Arkansas children lacked health insurance, while the U.S. number was 4,155,000.

Among other health indicators:

– Arkansas’ 9.6% low birth-weight-baby rate in 2023 increased from its 9.2% rate in 2019 and was higher than the national average of 8.6%. The national average in 2019 was 8.3%. There were 3,399 low-birth-weight babies born in Arkansas in 2023 and 308,263 born across the United States.

– Forty Arkansas children and teens per 100,000 died in 2023, compared to 35 in 2019. The United States figure worsened from 25 in 2019 to 29 in 2023. Three hundred children and teens in Arkansas and 22,841 nationally died in 2023.

– The percentage of Arkansas children and teens ages 10 to 17 considered overweight or obese was 38% in 2022-23, which represented an increase from 34% in 2018-19. The national figure was 31%, the same as before.

The state did better in three of the four family and community indicators than it did the year before.

Those included the number of teen births per 1,000, which fell in Arkansas from 30 in 2019 to 24 in 2023. It was 25 in 2022. Nationally, the rate fell from 17 in 2019 to 13 in 2023. It was 14 in 2022. There were 2,436 teen births in Arkansas and 140,977 in the United States in 2023.

The report said the teen birth rate nationally dropped by almost 25% from 2019 to 2023 and is down nearly 80% since 1980. It attributed the decrease to effective contraception, decreased younger teens’ sexual activity, and other factors.

In other family and community indicators:

– Arkansas’ percentage of children where the household lacks a high school diploma decreased from 11% in 2019 to 9% in 2023. Both numbers beat the national average, which fell from 12% in 2019 to 11% in 2023. The total numbers were 65,000 in Arkansas and 7,998,000 across the country.

– The percentage of Arkansas children in single-parent families in 2023 was 37%, the same as it was in 2019. Nationally, the percentage remained at 34%. The total numbers in 2023 were 239,000 in Arkansas and 23,531,000 in the United States.

– The percentage of Arkansas children living in high-poverty areas improved from 12% in 2014-18 to 9% in 2019-23. Both numbers were higher than the national average, which fell from 10% to 8% during those time periods. The numbers of children were 68,000 in Arkansas and 5,546,000 in the United States.

In the economic well-being domain, Arkansas improved in two indicators and did worse in two compared to the year before.

Twenty-four percent of Arkansas children in 2023 were living in households with a high housing cost burden where more than 30% of the household’s income was spent on housing-related expenses. That was an increase from the 22% living in those households in 2019. The national percentage was 30% both years. In total numbers, there were 168,000 Arkansas children and 22,134,000 U.S. children living in such households.

In other economic well-being indicators:

– The percentage of children in poverty improved from 22% in 2019 to 21% in 2023. The percentage of children across the United States improved from 17% to 16%. The report said that a total of 144,000 Arkansas children and 11,445,00 across the United States live in poverty.

A press release from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a state-based member of the Foundation’s network, noted that the number of Arkansas children living in poverty had decreased 7,000 since 2019. However, the numbers showed that racial disparities remained. Black children have a poverty rate of 43%, while 21% of Arkansas’ children of two or more races do, as do 19% of Hispanic or Latino children. For Non-Hispanic white children, the rate is 15%.

– The percentages of Arkansas children whose parents lack secure employment decreased from 29% in 2019 to 28% in 2023. Nationally, the figure improved from 26% to 25%.

– Ten percent of Arkansas teens were not in school and not working in 2023, compared to 7% in 2019. Nationally, the figure increased from 6% to 7%. Seventeen thousand Arkansas teens and 1,168,000 U.S. teens were included in that indicator.

In the education domain, the state performed worse in three of the four indicators than it did the year before.

Those included the percentage of Arkansas eighth graders not proficient in math, which increased from 73% in 2019, the year before the pandemic, to 80% in 2024. It had been 81% in 2023. The percentage nationally also increased from 67% to 73%.

Elsewhere in the education domain:

– Arkansas’ percentage of fourth graders not proficient in reading increased from 69% in 2019 to 72% in 2024. The percentage nationally increased from 66% to 70%.

– Arkansas’ percentage of high school students not graduating on time remained the same at 12% in both 2018-19 and 2021-22. Those were better than the national rates, which decreased from 14% to 13%.

– The percentage of young children (ages 3 and 4) not in school increased from 51% in 2014-18 to 57% in 2019-23. The percentage nationally increased from 52% to 54%. Forty-three thousand Arkansas children and 4,317,000 U.S. children ages 3 and 4 were not in school.

Arkansas did worse than it had done the previous year in nine indicators and better in five.

It did better in births per 1,000 teens; children living in high poverty areas; children in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma; children in poverty; and children whose parents lack secure employment.

It did worse in children in households with a high housing cost burden; teens not in school and not working; young children (ages 3 and 4) not in school; fourth graders not proficient in reading; eighth graders not proficient in math; low birth-weight babies; children without health insurance; child and teen deaths per 100,000; and children and teens (ages 10 to 17) who are overweight or obese.

Nationally, seven indicators showed improvements while six worsened. The most progress occurred in the Family and Community domain, where three of the indicators improved: teen births per 1,000; children living in high-poverty areas; and children in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma.

Three indicators showed worse results than the year before: fourth graders not proficient in reading; eighth graders not proficient in math; and young children (ages 3 and 4) not in school.

“These trends are consistent with the pandemic’s well-documented toll on student learning and school experiences,” the report said.