States Ranked For Children’s Well-Being 2026

This guide ranks all 50 states on how good they are for families in 2026, and it leans on the two studies parents and reporters cite most. The Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book measures how children actually turn out, from poverty and health coverage to reading scores and graduation rates. WalletHub’s Best States to Raise a Family study measures what daily life feels like for parents, from housing costs and school quality to safety and childcare. The two lists don’t always agree, and the places where they diverge tell you as much as the places where they line up.

The short version: what changed in 2026

• New Hampshire is the best state for kids for a fourth straight year. It topped the KIDS COUNT rankings again with a score of 838, well above the national 547. Yet it lands only 8th on WalletHub’s family list, because the two studies reward different things, so its top spot deserves an asterisk depending on what you’re after.
• Massachusetts is the one state both studies love. It ranks 2nd for child outcomes and 1st for family life (its fourth year atop WalletHub), and it pairs the country’s lowest uninsured-child rate, about 2%, with its highest reading and math scores.
• Mississippi, not New Mexico, ranks last this year. Its overall score of 271 is the lowest in the country, with New Mexico just ahead at 49th. But both states are climbing, not sinking, and that’s the surprise of the 2026 report.
• The South is improving faster than any other region. South Carolina gained more ground than any state in the country, and Mississippi and Louisiana were the only two states where education scores went up. The old story of a stuck South doesn’t fit the new data.
• Texas has the worst children’s health coverage in the nation. Roughly 14% of Texas kids, about 1.1 million children, had no insurance in 2024, the highest rate of any state for the 19th year running. It sits 44th overall, tied with Oklahoma.
• Schools are slipping almost everywhere. Education was the weakest of the four categories nationwide, and 47 of the 50 states scored worse than they did in 2019. Only about three in ten fourth graders now read proficiently.

The 10 Best States to Raise a Family in 2026

These are the ten states with the strongest child outcomes in the 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book, shown with their new overall score (out of 1,000) and, for contrast, where each one landed on WalletHub’s separate family-life ranking. When a state is strong on both, you can trust the signal. When the two columns split, read the next section before you pack.

Overall ranks and scores: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book. Family ranks: WalletHub, Best States to Raise a Family 2026.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire has now finished first for children four years in a row, and the new scoring makes clear it isn’t a close call: its 838 sits nearly 300 points above the national average. The state’s strongest area is family and community, where it has very few children in high-poverty neighborhoods and one of the lowest teen birth rates anywhere. It also covers almost all of its kids, with an uninsured rate near 2% that fell rather than rose over the past two years, bucking the national trend. If your priority is how children fare, this is the safest bet in the country. Just know that WalletHub, which weighs affordability and things-to-do more heavily, places it 8th, and its own advocates have flagged thin access to affordable pre-K as the piece it still hasn’t solved.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is the rare state that both studies put near the top, which makes it the closest thing to a consensus best place to raise a family. It leads the nation on reading and math and covers all but about 2% of its children, the lowest uninsured rate in the country. WalletHub has ranked it first for four straight years, crediting its schools, job security, family incomes, and health outcomes. The trade-off is money: housing in and around Boston is expensive, and you’re paying a premium for the services that drive those scores.

Utah

Utah is the highest-ranked Western state by a wide margin, and it gets there in a way that surprises people. It has low child poverty, a large share of two-parent households, and stable communities, so it scores well on the outcomes Casey measures. It sits outside WalletHub’s top ten, though, largely because childcare costs and a leaner Medicaid expansion than the Northeast leave some families stretched. For a two-income family that won’t lean heavily on subsidized care, Utah offers a lot for the money.

Vermont

Vermont’s strength is its communities. Almost no children live in concentrated poverty, its teen birth rate is among the lowest anywhere, and a well-connected rural health network keeps pediatric coverage high across a very spread-out state. Its weak spot is cost. Home prices around Burlington and Chittenden County have climbed sharply since 2022, so the affordability that Vermont once offered families is thinner than it looks on paper.

Minnesota

Minnesota rounds out the group that both rankings rate highly, finishing 5th for child outcomes and 2nd for family life. After you adjust for cost of living, family incomes here are among the highest in the country, and the state’s health system and parks give kids a healthy base. One caveat worth checking before you move: outcomes for Black, Native, and Hispanic children in the Twin Cities lag well behind those for white children, and a single statewide score hides that. If you’re relocating, look at the specific district, not the state average.

The 10 Worst States to Raise a Family in 2026

These ten states posted the lowest child-outcome scores in the country. The picture is bleak in places, but it isn’t frozen, and a few of the states near the bottom are among the fastest-improving in the nation, which is covered further down.

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book. Oklahoma and Texas tie at 44th, so there is no 45th. Healthcare and family-life notes: WalletHub 2026.

Two states here deserve a closer look, because the headline rank misses what’s happening underneath. Texas is the clearest case of resources not reaching kids. It has the 21st-highest median household income and two large public university systems, yet it sits 44th, dragged down by the country’s worst children’s health coverage. That isn’t bad luck. Texas is one of the few states that never expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and for 19 years straight it has had the highest share of uninsured children of any state. About 1.1 million Texas kids, roughly a quarter of every uninsured child in America, went without coverage in 2024.

Mississippi, at the very bottom overall, is the counterexample. Its 271 is the lowest score in the country, but it was one of just two states whose education scores rose, and it now ranks 16th nationally for education after years of investing in early reading through its 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act. A state can be last overall and still be doing something other states should copy.

Why the Two Big Family Rankings Don’t Agree

If you’ve searched this topic, you’ve probably seen New Hampshire called the best state for kids and Massachusetts called the best state for families, and wondered which is right. Both are, because they answer different questions. KIDS COUNT scores how children turn out. WalletHub scores what family life costs and feels like day to day, including things like parks, attractions, and childcare availability that have nothing to do with a child’s health or test scores. The states below are where the two lenses split hardest, and knowing why helps you weight them for your own situation.

Sources: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book; WalletHub, Best States to Raise a Family 2026.

New York is the sharpest illustration. It finishes 6th for family life but only 30th for child outcomes, and both are honest readings of the same state. WalletHub credits its school spending, healthcare access, and sheer number of things to do with kids. KIDS COUNT sees a state that ranks 46th for economic well-being and 46th for housing affordability, where concentrated child poverty in and around New York City pulls the average down. If you can afford a strong district, New York looks like a top-ten state. If money is tight, it doesn’t. The lesson runs through the whole comparison: pick the ranking that matches your own constraints, then check the county, not the state.

Best and Worst States for Kids’ Healthcare

Health coverage is where states differ most, and it’s the factor most likely to hit your family budget directly, so it’s worth its own look. A separate WalletHub study reported by Newsweek in April 2026 scored all 50 states and Washington, D.C. across 33 measures of children’s health, access, nutrition, and dental care. The best and worst states track closely with the overall rankings, but not perfectly.

The five best states for children’s healthcare were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and Hawaii. Massachusetts took first, powered by the lowest share of uninsured children in the country (about 1.6%), one of the lowest infant-death rates, and strong nutrition numbers. Rhode Island stood out for how few families struggle to pay their kids’ medical bills, and Connecticut for having plenty of pediatricians and the highest childhood vaccination rate in the nation.

At the other end, Mississippi, Arizona, Alaska, Montana, and Kentucky ranked lowest. And the national trend is moving the wrong way. After holding steady for years, the share of uninsured children rose to 6% in 2024, about 4.6 million kids, the highest in nearly a decade, as pandemic-era coverage rules expired. Texas alone accounts for roughly a quarter of that total. If you’re comparing two states, the children’s uninsured rate is one of the fastest ways to see how seriously a state takes covering its kids.

The Education Crisis Hitting Nearly Every State

If there’s one finding in the 2026 report that should worry every parent regardless of state, it’s education. Nationally, the education score fell from 518 in 2019 to 417 in 2024, the steepest drop of any category, and 47 of the 50 states scored worse than before the pandemic. This isn’t a red-state or blue-state problem, and it isn’t only a poverty problem. It reaches nearly everywhere.

The clearest snapshot comes from the Nation’s Report Card. In 2024, only about 31% of fourth graders nationwide read at a proficient level, and the range across states runs from roughly 40% in top-scoring Massachusetts down to about 20% in New Mexico. Eighth-grade math is worse: just 27% of students hit proficiency, and in New Mexico it falls to 14%. One caution when you read these numbers, since it trips up a lot of coverage: the federal “proficient” bar is a high standard and isn’t the same as reading at grade level, so a state at 40% is doing well by this measure, not failing.

The two exceptions are the interesting part. Only Mississippi and Louisiana raised their education scores at all, both after years of focused early-literacy work. The states that fell hardest weren’t the usual suspects either; North Dakota, Maine, Delaware, Iowa, and Oklahoma led the declines. A strong school district still matters more than a strong state, but the ground is shifting under all of them.

The South Is Improving Faster Than Anywhere Else

Here’s the finding that contradicts almost everything written about this topic in past years. The South still has most of the lowest-scoring states, with 11 of the bottom 15, but it’s also where the fastest gains are happening. Eight Southern states raised their scores between 2019 and 2024, and South Carolina improved more than any state in the country, up 38 points.

The individual stories are more encouraging than the ranks suggest. New Mexico, second from the bottom, lifted its score by 22 points after lawmakers expanded the state child tax credit in 2023, which helped families cover rent, food, and childcare. Mississippi, dead last overall, is the national leader on the one thing everyone else is struggling with, early reading. Louisiana joined it as the only other state to improve education. None of this makes these states good places for kids yet, and the tables above are still the right guide if you’re choosing where to live today. But the direction of travel matters, and for these states it’s finally pointing up.

Nationally the picture is mixed. Child well-being declined in 29 states over the five years, improved in 15, and held steady in 6. Alongside the reading slump and rising child deaths, though, there were real bright spots: teen births fell 24%, and the share of children living in high-poverty neighborhoods dropped 22%, about 1.3 million fewer kids. The one economic warning sign is housing. The share of children in families spending more than a third of their income on housing rose to 31% in 2024, its first increase since 2010, which is roughly 22.4 million kids.

Thinking About Moving With Kids? Start Here

A ranking is a starting point, not a decision. If you’re weighing a move with your children’s future in mind, the 2026 data points to three broad paths depending on your budget and what you care about most.

If cost is no object and outcomes come first, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Minnesota are the strongest all-around choices, and Massachusetts and Minnesota have the advantage of ranking near the top on both major studies. The trade-off is housing. In greater Boston and much of southern New Hampshire, prices have climbed hard since 2020, so budget for it.

If you want top-tier outcomes on a tighter budget, look hard at Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. All four land in the top ten for children while carrying housing costs well below the Northeast, and the metros around Omaha, Des Moines, Madison, and the Twin Cities suburbs pair strong districts with home prices roughly half of what you’d pay in Boston.

If you’re leaving a bottom-tier state, and you’re in Texas, Arizona, or much of the Deep South, moving to a top-15 Midwestern or Northeastern state can measurably improve your kids’ access to health coverage and stronger schools. Just do the homework a statewide ranking can’t: check the specific district’s test scores, the local childcare supply, whether the state expanded Medicaid, and how close you’ll be to family who can help.

How These Rankings Are Measured

The backbone of this guide is the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book, now in its 37th year and the most-cited state-by-state measure of child well-being in the country. New for 2026, it gives every state both a rank and a score from 0 to 1,000, so you can see not just the order but how far apart states really are, using 2019 as a pre-pandemic baseline. The score is built from 16 indicators split evenly across four areas: economic well-being (child poverty, parental employment, housing cost, and family income), education (early reading and math, high school graduation, and disconnected teens), health (insurance coverage, child and teen deaths, low birthweight, and preventive care), and family and community (single-parent households, high-poverty neighborhoods, teen births, and parental education). All 16 draw on federal data from the Census Bureau and other agencies, so the numbers are comparable across states and years.

For a second, differently weighted view, this guide also uses WalletHub’s Best States to Raise a Family 2026, which scores states on 50 metrics across five categories: family fun, health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, and socioeconomics. Because WalletHub folds in cost of living and quality-of-life factors that KIDS COUNT leaves out, the two rankings are complementary rather than competing, which is why comparing them is more useful than trusting either alone. The healthcare section draws on a separate WalletHub children’s-health study reported by Newsweek in April 2026.

FAQ: Best and Worst States to Raise a Family

What is the best state to raise a family in 2026?

It depends on what you weigh most. For how children actually fare, New Hampshire ranks first in the 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book for the fourth year running, with a score of 838. For overall family life, WalletHub ranks Massachusetts first, also for the fourth straight year. Massachusetts is the strongest all-around pick because it ranks near the top of both: 2nd for child outcomes and 1st for family life, with the country’s best school scores and lowest uninsured-child rate.

What is the worst state to raise a family in 2026?

Mississippi has the lowest child-outcomes score in the country in 2026 (271 out of 1,000), followed by New Mexico (281) and Louisiana (313). WalletHub’s family-life study ranks New Mexico last instead, with West Virginia and Mississippi just above it. Worth noting: several of these states, including Mississippi, New Mexico, and Louisiana, actually improved their scores over the past five years.

Why does Texas rank so low if its economy is strong?

Texas sits 44th, tied with Oklahoma, mainly because of children’s health coverage. It has the highest uninsured-child rate in the country, about 14%, or roughly 1.1 million kids, and it has held that unwanted top spot for 19 years running. The main reason is policy: Texas is one of the few states that never expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, so a strong economy hasn’t translated into covered, cared-for kids.

Which states improved the most in 2026?

South Carolina improved more than any state, raising its score by 38 points since 2019. New Mexico gained 22 points after expanding its state child tax credit in 2023. And Mississippi and Louisiana were the only two states to raise their education scores at all, thanks to sustained early-reading efforts. On the family-life side, Nebraska held a spot in WalletHub’s top five.

Which states have the best children’s healthcare?

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and Hawaii ranked best for kids’ healthcare in a 2026 WalletHub study reported by Newsweek. Massachusetts led on the strength of the nation’s lowest uninsured-child rate and low infant mortality. The lowest-ranked states were Mississippi, Arizona, Alaska, Montana, and Kentucky.

Do good schools and overall family rankings mean the same thing?

Not quite. School-quality rankings judge the schools themselves, while family and child-well-being rankings fold in health, income, and home life, so a state can look great on one and only average on the other. Indiana is a good example: it’s well known for its universities yet sits 29th overall for children, because family economic conditions trail the quality of the institutions. Whatever the statewide number says, the district you’d actually live in matters more, so check it directly.

What is KIDS COUNT and who publishes it?

The KIDS COUNT Data Book is published every year by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore philanthropy focused on children and families. Now in its 37th edition, it ranks and, new for 2026, scores all 50 states using 16 indicators across four areas, all drawn from federal data. You can explore the full dataset free through the KIDS COUNT Data Center at datacenter.aecf.org.

Sources

1. Annie E. Casey Foundation: 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book
2. Becker’s: 2026 KIDS COUNT Rankings and Scores, All 50 States
3. WalletHub: Best States to Raise a Family 2026
4. Newsweek: Best and Worst States for Children’s Healthcare (April 2026)
5. Population Reference Bureau: New KIDS COUNT State Scores (June 2026)
6. Georgetown Center for Children and Families: State-by-State Child Health Coverage Trends
7. USAFacts: NAEP Reading Proficiency by State, 2024
8. Moneywise/Yahoo Finance: The 10 Best and 5 Worst States to Raise a Family in 2026
9. KIDS COUNT Data Center: State Rankings