Neediest kids live in rich states
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USATODAY-The report found:
•States where low-income kids fared best are clustered in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions. The top five: Utah, North Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming and South Dakota.
O’Hare says those states have a greater sense of community and take care of each other.
Haskins says they have more families led by married parents. He says poverty, a major factor in poor people’s well-being, is five times greater in female-headed households than in those with two parents.
•The states that have ranked the lowest for overall child well-being in past surveys — Mississippi and Louisiana — are not at the very bottom for low-income children. They ranked 41 and 44, respectively, because of how their low-income kids fared.
•Children in low-income families — those below 200% of the poverty level, about $41,000 last year for a family of four — scored lower on 27 of 29 well-being indicators than did higher-income kids. The only poor children who did as well or better are those who attend religious services weekly and have dinner with their families at least six days a week.
