The release of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 KIDS COUNT® Data Book offers a clear window into how Maryland’s children and families are faring.
With an overall score of 616, Maryland ranks 19th in the nation for child well-being. While our state continues to hover near the middle of the pack nationally in overall child well-being, the numbers reveal a sharp contrast: targeted state policies are successfully lifting families financially, but systemic barriers and a lack of sustained funding continue to hold our students back in the classroom.
This year’s Data Book introduces an expanded index, providing both state rankings and comprehensive scores to paint a clearer picture of whether child outcomes are progressing or declining over time. Instead of just ranking states against one another, it scores them on a scale from 0 to 1,000, tracking progress against a 2019 baseline with the goal of measuring how much states have recovered or progressed since the pandemic.
This change reveals whether states are genuinely improving the lives of children. Nationally, the United States scored 547, with data showing a country still deeply caught in a tug-of-war between strong economic recovery and pandemic-era educational loss.
The Data Book also reflects trends between 2019 and 2024. The overall score for Maryland rose from 609 to 616 during this time, with improvements in three of the four domains:
- Economic Well-Being improved by 61 points, to 685
- Education plunged 116 points, to 438
- Health progressed slightly, rising 37 points, to 659
- Family and Community advanced 49 points, to 684
The Data Highlights: Areas of Progress and Lingering Gaps
The 2026 Data Book tracks child well-being across four domains: Economic Well-Being, Education, Health, and Family and Community. Since 2019, Maryland has mirrored national trends with an uneven recovery that underscores the power of intentional public policy.
Economic Well-Being: A Testament to State Policy
Economic security provides the critical foundation for healthy child development. Thanks to robust state-level investments, Maryland has seen meaningful improvements:
- Declining Child Poverty: The share of Maryland children living in poverty has seen steady declines compared to the pre-pandemic era. However, more than 1 in 10 children are still living in poverty and thepercentage of children living in poverty has remained steady in the last few years. After declining from a high of 14% in 2021, it has remained at 11% in 2023 and 2024. The federal poverty level was $25,820 for a family of three in 2024.
- Job Stability: Increases in parental employment and household economic security show that when the state invests in working families, it pays off. There were slightly fewer children living in households in which parents lacked secure employment compared to 2019. Maryland enacted a broad range of policies during this period that are clearly helping kids and their families, such as raising the minimum wage, increasing access to health care, and expanding the availability of family income supports like tax credits.
- Housing Costs, Inflation and Federal Policy Changes: Despite these gains, high costs for essentials like housing and groceries continue to strain household budgets, and recent federal laws such as H.R. 1 are threatening to erase these fragile improvements. Housing costs remain the biggest financial challenge for families. The share of children living in households burdened by high housing costs rose from 29% in 2023 to 30% in 2024, for a total of 414,000 kids, representing a percentage increase for the first time since a downward trend began in 2014.
Education: A System in Need of Steady Support
While financial security improved, Maryland’s educational outcomes remain the most concerning area of the report, showing a continuing struggle to bounce back from pandemic-related disruptions.
- Learning Loss: Reading and math proficiencies among Maryland students remain lower than 2019 benchmarks, especially in math.
- Early Education Dip: Preschool participation has lagged, preventing many of our youngest learners from getting a strong start.
- National Trend: Maryland is part of a national trend with only two states, Mississippi and Louisiana, improving and South Carolina remaining stable.
Health and Community: Gaps and Disparities
Maryland saw bright spots with a decades-long reduction in teen birth rates- a nearly 80% decline since 199,1 and fewer children living in high-poverty neighborhoods. However, persistent challenges remain in child and teen mortality rates and the percentage of low-birthweight babies, pointing to deep-seated racial and geographic disparities in healthcare access. Also the percentage of insured children dipped slightly from 97% to 95%.
What It Means: Policy Choices Shape Our Outcomes
The data from the 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book proves a fundamental truth: disparities and hardships are not inevitable; they are the result of policy choices. When Maryland lawmakers prioritized economic relief—such as expanding state tax credits for low-income families and strengthening the safety net—the economic data responded positively. Conversely, our lagging education and health indicators show exactly where our public investments are falling short.
With federal budget decisions threatening to roll back critical food and healthcare assistance, state-level action is more vital than ever.
The Path Forward for Maryland
To move Maryland out of the middle rankings and ensure every child thrives, policymakers must commit to long-term support for the public services families need to thrive. We must:
- Protect and Expand Public Education Funding: Fully implement and protect the funding structures of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future to address learning loss, universal pre-K, and targeted support for under-resourced schools.
- Strengthen the Social Safety Net: Ensure that state-level food assistance and healthcare access remain robust, shielding Maryland families from harmful federal cuts.
- Address the Cost of Living: Enact fair tax reforms that lower the burden on working families and generate the revenue needed to fund high-quality, affordable childcare and housing initiatives.
Reliable data gives us the roadmap. Now, Maryland leaders must continue the work required to build a stronger, more equitable future for all our children.
For more on the report and detailed data breakdowns, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Book.