With August being Child Support Awareness Month and nearly 1 in 7 children in the U.S. living in poverty, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s States with the Most Underprivileged Children, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
In order to bring awareness to the condition of underprivileged children throughout the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 27 key measures of neediness. The data set ranges from share of children in households with below-poverty income to child food-insecurity rate to share of maltreated children.
| States with the Most Underprivileged Kids | |
| 1. Mississippi | 11. Nevada |
| 2. Alaska | 12. Montana |
| 3. West Virginia | 13. Alabama |
| 4. New Mexico | 14. South Carolina |
| 5. Louisiana | 15. Missouri |
| 6. Oklahoma | 16. Wyoming |
| 7. District of Columbia | 17. Ohio |
| 8. Arizona | 18. Oregon |
| 9. Arkansas | 19. Indiana |
| 10. Kentucky | 20. South Dakota |
Key Stats
- Louisiana has the highest child food-insecurity rate, 23.00 percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Massachusetts, the state with the lowest at 8.90 percent.
- Mississippi has the most infant deaths (per 1,000 live births), nine, which is three times more than in Vermont, the state with the fewest at three.
- West Virginia has the highest share of children in foster care, 1.97 percent, which is 8.6 times higher than in New Jersey, the state with the lowest at 0.23 percent.
- Texas has the highest share of uninsured children aged 0 to 18, 10.80 percent, which is 8.3 times higher than in Massachusetts, the state with the lowest at 1.30 percent.
- Kentucky has the highest share of maltreated children, 1.99 percent, which is 11.1 times higher than in Pennsylvania, the state with the lowest at 0.18 percent.
