State policy environments and budget constraints make protecting and expanding investments in kids and families difficult. Casey’s KIDS COUNT® (LA INFANCIA CUENTA™) data resources — the KIDS COUNT Data Center website and the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book — are critical tools in helping advocates, nonprofit leaders, funders and policymakers achieve targeted policy wins, deliver more effective programs and allocate funds most appropriately.
The KIDS COUNT Data Center is an online resource that provides data on child well-being over time from the most trusted national sources and from more than 53 state- and territory-based organizations. The KIDS COUNT Data Center houses hundreds of key child and family well-being indicators and more than four million data points at the national and local levels.
The KIDS COUNT Data Book provides a detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States, ranking states on overall child well-being and domains. The Data Book also contains key indicators covering economic well-being, education, health and family and community. Each year, the release of the Data Book generates significant media attention and a unique opportunity to discuss ways of improving the lives of children and families. View the latest Data Book.
While the Data Book takes a holistic look at child well-being, KIDS COUNT regularly releases data snapshots and reports on policies and other major issues. Recent policy reports have focused on ensuring equal access to opportunities to all children, kinship families and investments in early childhood development, while data snapshots have examined trends in juvenile incarceration and reading proficiency. View all KIDS COUNT publications.
To ensure child advocates and policymakers have access to high-quality measures of child well-being, we advocate at the federal level for investments in data collection, such as the National Survey of Children’s Health, the National Vital Statistics System, the decennial census and the American Community Survey.
The most visible KIDS COUNT product is the KIDS COUNT Data Book, which for 25 editions has used a set of indicators to track the well-being of children at the state and national levels. The Data Book includes a ranking for each state based on a composite KIDS COUNT Index that combines key indicators into an overall measure of child well-being. The variables in the index represent several dimensions of child well-being, reflect outcomes for children at different stages of life and are measured consistently across states over time. The index consists of the following 16 indicators:
The Data Book also ranks states in the four key domain areas.
KIDS COUNT State Organizations
We fund a network of organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia that contribute state and local data on the well-being of their children, as well as advocate for the well-being of their state's kids and families.
KIDS COUNT National Outreach Partners
Our national outreach partners help elevate KIDS COUNT data and analysis through a larger network of nonprofits, philanthropies, advocacy organizations and researchers. Each year, these partners work to share the latest KIDS COUNT research with their respective stakeholders.
Population Reference Bureau
The Population Reference Bureau analyzes demographic and trend data for the national KIDS COUNT project, including the KIDS COUNT Data Center. The organization also is a thought partner on indicator development and index construction.
Child Trends
Child Trends analyzes the National Survey of Children’s Health for Casey reports and the KIDS COUNT Data Center and promotes the survey as an important resource to federal lawmakers.
January is National Mentoring Month. Get the latest statistics on mentoring and its powerful benefits to youth.
Race for Results identifies gaps in child well-being that persist in every state across race and ethnicity. Read the press release.
The term "opportunity youth" refers to youth who are neither in school nor working. Get the latest data on this demographic.
The Data Book provides a detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States. We rank states on overall child well-being and in four domains.
The new Race for Results Index compares how children are progressing on key milestones across racial and ethnic groups at the national and state levels.
A child’s early development from birth through age 8 is essential to making an effective transition into elementary school and for long-term academic achievement.
