By admin 
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.
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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,” said Trevor Storrs, president and CEO of Alaska Children’s Trust, in a statement highlighting the survey. The non-profit advocacy group focuses on supporting Alaska children and families and preventing child abuse and neglect.
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“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 in an interview Monday. “So us not doing as well as other states is not a surprise, and dropping to 47th is a major step backwards.”
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.
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