WYOMING — A new national ranking of children’s health and wellbeing ranked Wyoming 27th in the nation, down from 14th place in 2022.
The Kids Count 2023 data collection assesses four facets of juvenile health: economic well-being, education, physical health and family and community.
Economically speaking, Wyoming placed 19th, down from last year’s 7th place, which was attributed to increases in children whose parents lack secure employment and children living in households with a high housing cost burden.
In the realm of education, the Cowboy State placed 14th, an improvement from 19th in 2022, despite faring slightly worse in such categories as fourth-graders not proficient in reading and eighth-graders not proficient in math.
Wyoming ranks 46th in physical health for children this year, a significant fall from last year’s 33rd place. According to the findings, 11% of Wyoming children still live without health insurance, a percentage that has held steady since 2019. Minor improvements were also measured in the state count of low birth-weight babies and 10-17-year-olds who are overweight.
The state’s family and community rank dropped from 6 to 12, due to slightly higher numbers of children in single-parent families, children in families where the household lacks a high school diploma and children living in high-poverty areas. The teen birth rate, however, continues to improve.
The foundation’s statistical analysis was accompanied by a call for increased funding for nationwide public health services. “America’s child care system is broken,” the report reads. “Safe, reliable child care has largely been inaccessible and unaffordable for too many Americans. Disparities between who can and can’t afford child care reflect long-standing structural inequities in the United States. Shift workers, single parents, student parents and families of color are particularly affected by the failings of the child care system.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Director of Programs at the Wyoming Community Foundation Micah Richardson. “There are too many families falling through the cracks because the state hasn’t expanded Medicaid,” Richardson said in a press release. “Families who are working to make ends meet are being hamstrung by both the high cost of child care and the high cost of medical care.”
Here in Teton County, the needs of younger residents are not going unnoticed. Earlier this month, Jackson’s town council approved a budget that will focus on health and human services for such organizations as Teton Youth and Family Services.
