If you want a snapshot of how Washington’s children are actually doing, the newest KIDS COUNT® Data Book offers a sobering one. Washington landed at 17th in the nation for overall child well-being — better than average, yes, but with a big red flag: more kids in our state are going without health insurance than at any point in over a decade.
The Data Book, now in its 37th year, comes from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and pulls together recent data from all 50 states to measure how children are faring. This year brings a notable change. For the first time, states earn a comprehensive score from 0 to 1,000 rather than just a ranking against one another. That score tracks 16 indicators across four areas — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community — over the five years from 2019 to 2024. The idea is to show whether public investment and policy are genuinely improving children’s lives, not simply how one state stacks up against the next.
Heath insurance: A worrisome point
Washington scored 634, comfortably above the national mark of 547. We did best in health and in family and community, earning 753 and 788 respectively. Where we stumbled: education at 374 and economic well-being at 621.
And despite health is one of our strongest categories, Washington slipped five spots in that domain between 2019 and 2024, dropping to 10th nationally. Three of the four child health indicators held steady. However, the share of kids without health insurance rose from 3% in 2023 to 4% in 2024. It may sound like a small shift, but it’s the first time in more than ten years this number has moved the wrong way.
“Access to health care is critical to child well-being,” Dr. Soleil Boyd, Executive Director of Children’s Alliance, Washington’s member of the KIDS COUNT network, said in a release. “We know that when families do not have health insurance, they are less likely to get the care they need and deserve. This data coincides with the sunsetting of pandemic-era assistance policies, which likely contributed to a negative impact on coverage rates. I am concerned that this worrying trend will be compounded by the cuts to essential programs imposed by the Trump administration.”
Other other findings from the 2026 report
Economic well-being (26th): Nearly a third of Washington kids — 31% — live in households spending more than 30% of their income on housing. That’s up from 29% in 2019, and for families stretched thin, those percentages translate into real pressure at the kitchen table.
Family and community (9th): A bright spot. Just 2% of Washington children lived in high-poverty areas based on 2020–2024 data, compared to 7% nationally.
Education (31st): This is where we lost the most ground, sliding from 27th the year before. Both the share of 3- and 4-year-olds not enrolled in school (57%) and the percentage of high schoolers not graduating on time (17% in 2023–2024) run above national averages.
Impact of federal cuts not included
The Data Book reflects data from 2024, which means it doesn’t yet capture the federal cuts already taking effect. The reductions to Medicaid and SNAP folded into H.R.1 (Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill) are expected to push more children off health coverage and nutrition assistance, raising costs for families and increasing child hunger in the months ahead.
Boyd is direct about what children need and how to pay for it: “We know what kids need to grow up healthy and connected so they can thrive as adults: Stable homes, strong schools, access to health care, meaningful relationships and opportunities to learn, play and grow,” she said.
A call to action
“To ensure that’s possible for every child in our state, we need progressive revenue Washington lawmakers took an important step with the passage of the Millionaires Tax this year. We must defend this tax and ensure lawmakers make good on their promise to invest in programs that support kids, families and communities, and protect Washingtonians from the negative impacts of federal policies.”
Children’s Alliance is urging lawmakers from both parties to use the report as a road map — to see where kids are thriving, where they’re falling behind, and where targeted investment could change the trajectory.
