Kids Count

Utah is seeing an ever-increasing proportion of our parents in the workforce. This Data Link provides data on families and working parents by county and provides policy recommendations in the workplace. 

Utah Kids Count Data Links: July 2021

INVEST IN UTAH'S KIDS - ENSURE UTAH'S FUTURE

The Utah KIDS COUNT Project is built around the idea that data helps us tell the story of our communities, makes us aware of problems, and brings to the forefront a discussion of the policy solutions that can make a difference in outcomes for kids. Our policy choices reflect our priorities and our priorities should be based on fact -- solid, reliable, accessible data on how kids are doing in our state. This annual publication, “Measures of Child Well-Being in Utah” is a first step in the process.

But how can collecting data help kids? Data can help policymakers and advocates identify problems that require action. Data can identify successful policies that should be continued or expanded. As resources become more limited, data can help policymakers track whether taxpayer dollars are being effectively invested to maximize limited resources. Data also helps service providers prove the need for programs as they write grants to support Utah’s children and their families. Data counts and helps us make KIDS COUNT. We hope this publication is useful as you work to ensure that our state invests in kids and creates a thriving state for the future.

Terry Haven, Deputy Director

 Measures of Child Well-Being in Utah, 2020

A note on the data and the COVID Pandemic:

There is always a lag in data collection which means that the data presented in the data book is often several years behind. Given the effect that COVID has had on many child well-being indicators such as unemployment, poverty, and a myriad of health indicators, it is important to note that some of the indicators in this publication may look very different at this point in time. The Annie E. Casey recognizes the importance of how COVID has affected children and there is now a COVID section of data on the Data Center. The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. You can learn more about this data on page 17 in this publication.

KIDS COUNT is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Voices for Utah Children that provides statistical data on the education, health and economic well-being of children and their families. Utilizing KIDS COUNT data allows policymakers and community leaders to make data-driven decisions that will provide a better future for our state's youngest citizens.

Measures of Child Well-Being

For 15 years it has been the priority of the Utah KIDS COUNT Project to ensure that policymakers, advocates, community service providers, the media, and concerned citizens have quality data on how children are doing in our state. These yearly publications provide county level data on a variety of child well-being indicators.

Measures of Child Well-Being in Utah, 2021

2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book

2021 State Trends in Child Well-Being, Annie E. Casey Foundation 

How are kids doing nationwide?

Visit the Annie E. Casey Foundation website for nationwide data

How Does Utah Rank?

How does Utah Rank?

The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2020 KIDS COUNT Profile

For immediate release

Contact: Terry Haven, , 801-364-1182 or 801-554-6570

Utah Ranks Fourth Overall in Child Well-Being, But Falls Near the Bottom (41st) for Children Without Health Insurance

31st KIDS COUNT® Data Book provides the most comprehensive annual report on child well-being in the United States and shows Utah still struggles in some health areas.

SALT LAKE CITY —Utah ranked fourth among states for overall child well-being, according to the 31st edition of the KIDS COUNT® Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Among the four domains, Utah ranked highest in family and community, landing in the number one spot, and lowest in health, ranking 13th among all the states. The 2020 KIDS COUNT® Data Book is the most comprehensive annual report on child well-being in the United States and notes measurable progress since the first Data Book, which was published in 1990. Nevertheless, almost 90,000 Utah children lived in poverty according to the latest data and serious racial and ethnic disparities persist.   

“A ranking of fourth is a great place to be,” said Terry Haven, Deputy Director of Voices for Utah Children. “The Data Book can tell us how to get to number one if that’s where we want to be.”

The annual KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation uses 16 indicators to rank each state across four domains — health, education, economic well-being and family and community — as an assessment of child well-being. Utah improved their ranking or stayed the same in all four domains. Utah ranks:

• Second in economic well-being. Utah rose in ranking from fourth to second in economic well-being. However, 23% of Utah kids lived in households with high housing cost burdens and almost 90,000 Utah children still lived in poverty in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. (All of the data in this year’s report is from prior to the COVID-19 crisis.)
• 10th in education. Utah rose in ranking from 13th to 10th. The good news is that Utah has made improvement in the percent of young children (ages 3 and 4) who were in preschool, even though the state still lags behind the national average in this area.
• First in the family and community domain. Utah remained number one in this domain, improving or staying the same in all four indicators. However, Utah did see a slight increase in the number of children in single-parent families from 2017 to 2018, even though the percentage remained the same.
• 13th in health. Utah’s health ranking in the 2019 Data Book was 21st, although because one of the four measures of child health comprising the indicator changed, the rankings cannot be directly compared. Utah lagged behind the rest of the nation with regard to the percentage of children who lacked health insurance.

Release Information:

The 2020 KIDS COUNT® Data Book will be available June 22 at 12:01 a.m. EDT at www.aecf.org. Additional information is available at www.aecf.org/databook . Journalists interested in creating maps, graphs, and rankings in stories about the Data Book can use the KIDS COUNT® Data Center at datacenter.kidscount.org

About Voices for Utah Children:

At Voices for Utah Children, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. And to achieve this vision, we make sure all kids are ready to learn and they and their families are healthy and economically secure. For more information, visit www.utahchildren.org.

About the Annie E. Casey Foundation:

The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s children by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit www.aecf.org.

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In 2019, we took on the ambitious goal of visiting every county in Utah.  We shared county information from our annual KIDS COUNT book and talked about the importance of the upcoming Census 2020. 

To read about the key issues that we heard during our tour, please click on the image below. 

Talking Kids Tour 2019 - A Supplement to the 2019 Utah KIDS COUNT Data Book