Published: New KIDS COUNT Index Reveals Where States Are Making Progress for Children - The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Date: June 8, 2026

This 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book intro­duces a new way to mea­sure child well-being that shows not only how states com­pare with one anoth­er, but whether they are mak­ing mean­ing­ful progress for chil­dren over time.

For the first time, the Data Book assigns every state a score from 0 to 1,000 based on 16 indi­ca­tors across four domains of child well-being: Eco­nom­ic Well-Being, Edu­ca­tion, Health and Fam­i­ly and Com­mu­ni­ty.