With August designated as Child Support Awareness Month and 1 in 7 children in the U.S. living in poverty, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2025’s States With the Most Underprivileged Children. The study compares the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 25 key measures of neediness, including the share of children in households with below-poverty income, child food-insecurity rate, and share of maltreated children.
According to the report, the states with the most underprivileged children are New Mexico, Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, Arkansas, Nevada, and Kentucky. These rankings underscore significant challenges faced by children in these regions, from economic hardship to health and safety concerns.
Key statistics from the study reveal stark disparities. Louisiana has the highest child food-insecurity rate, which is two times higher than in Massachusetts, the state with the lowest. Mississippi reports the most infant deaths per 1,000 live births, a rate 2.9 times higher than in New Hampshire. West Virginia has the highest share of children in foster care, 13.8 times higher than in New Jersey. Texas has the highest share of uninsured children aged 0 to 18, 7.9 times higher than in Massachusetts. Conversely, Massachusetts has the highest share of maltreated children, 11.3 times higher than in New Jersey.
The findings highlight the urgent need for targeted policies and resources to support underprivileged children. For more details, the full report is available at WalletHub's study.
