Alaska dropped seven places to rank 47th in the nation in overall child well-being, according to a nationally recognized survey by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Advocates say the decline is troubling and reflects years of declining investment in Alaska children and families.
The scoring system is part of Kids Count data book, an analysis of all 50 states to gauge how children are faring across 16 indicators in four areas — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. The latest score reflects outcomes over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024, to compare between states and against the baseline of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alaska received an overall score of 385 out of 1,000. Alaska’s overall score dropped 41 points since 2019, among the largest decline of any state in the nation.
“Dropping seven spots in a single year is not a data point — it’s a warning,” Trevor Storrs, president of Alaska Children’s Trust, said in a statement. The nonprofit advocacy group focuses on supporting children and families and preventing child abuse and neglect.
“We have been seeing year after year the overall trend of Alaska’s investment in children and families going down, and that is automatically going to result in less success or less thriving children and families,” Storrs said on June 8. “Not doing as well as other states is not a surprise, and dropping to 47th is a major step backward.”
Alaska saw the steepest decline in education, where the state ranked 49th in the nation, just above New Mexico. In 2024, 78% of Alaska fourth graders were not proficient in reading, and 78% of eighth graders were not proficient in math, several points worse than 2019 levels.
In the five-year period, 64% of young children — ages 3 and 4 — were not in school. Among high schoolers, 22% did not graduate on time in 2024.
In economic well-being, Alaska ranked 48th in the nation. Thirteen percent of children were living in poverty in 2024, with no change since 2019. Roughly one third, or 34% of children’s parents lacked stable employment, up from 29% in 2019. Eleven percent of teens were not working and not in school.
In the health and family and community sectors, Alaskans fared slightly better — ranking 38th and 30th respectively. However, 31% of children and teens were overweight or obese, and 9% of children had no health insurance.
Alaska continues to have among the highest rate of youth suicide in the nation. In 2024, teen deaths by accident, homicide or suicide were nearly double the national average at a rate of 70 per 100,000.
Nationwide, challenges and progress were reflected across all states: 29 states saw overall declines, 15 states saw improvements and six states were stable, across the scoring system.
Education outcomes remain the most concerning across the board, according to the Kids Count analysis – nearly every state, or 47 in total, saw declines in education since 2019, highlighting the pervasive impacts of the COVID-10 pandemic.
“Our education isn’t doing poorly because of not the right teachers or not the right system, it is literally being strangled and deprived of the options that it needs to survive, and that is the funding,” Storrs said.
Storrs said greater investments in Alaska’s schools alone won’t improve educational outcomes, as health and socio-economic factors greatly impact how a child shows up at school.
“Children and families live in an ecosystem, and we need to make sure all aspects are well maintained, because if one goes bad, it can and will impact,” he said.
Storrs said the group is advocating for more funding “upstream” for support services, rather than “downstream” funding for things like state prisons. Storrs pointed to the all-time high budget approved for the Alaska Department of Corrections this year.
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