Despite improvements in numerous key measures, many children are blocked from reaching essential milestones of well-being in the United States, especially children of color, a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds.

The report, 2024 Race for Results: Building a Pathway to Opportunity for All Children (51 pages, PDF), standardizes scores across 12 key well-being indicators to compare across states and racial and ethnic groups. According to the report, Asian and Pacific Islander children have the highest index score (771), followed by white children (697), and children of two or more races (612), with Latino (452), American Indian or Alaska Native (418), and Black children (386) considerably lower in the list. By state, South Dakota had the lowest average index scores across all categories, followed by several southern and southwestern states; Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine had the highest average of index scores.

While there were gains among every demographic group in poverty indicators between 2007-11 and 2017–21, more than half of Black (58 percent), American Indian or Alaska Native (57 percent), and Latino (53 percent) kids currently live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The share of children living in low-poverty neighborhoods increased for all demographic groups. The report also found that reading and math scores dropped during the pandemic. In 2022, only a third of all fourth graders were proficient in reading, while approximately one in six for Black (16 percent) and American Indian or Alaska Native (18 percent) were proficient, and one in five Latino children (20 percent).

The report includes several recommendations for improving outcomes for children, including expanding the federal child tax credit and the earned income tax credit; encouraging lawmakers to consider baby bonds and children’s savings accounts; encouraging states that have not expanded Medicaid access to do so; and creating targeted programs and policies that can close well-being gaps for young people of color.

“We need children of every race and ethnicity to grow up ready to provide the talent, intellect, and hard work that will make our country strong and prosperous,” said Casey Foundation vice president of external affairs Leslie Boissiere. “This country of great abundance, creativity, and possibility can—and must—make better policy choices to eliminate the barriers kids face.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/JupiterImages)