Arkansas ranks 45th in child well-being, according to the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how children are faring in post-pandemic America.
The number of Arkansas’s children in poverty has decreased by 7,000 since 2019. Despite this progress, 21% of the state’s children still live in poverty (more than one in five), and Arkansas remains well above the national average of 16%, said Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families was founded in 1977 by a group of prominent Arkansans who believed that children needed an independent force to provide information and education to parents and citizens about the state’s policies toward children and families.
The group said it is important to note the racial disparities hidden in the data. When parsed out by race, child poverty rates are unevenly distributed: Arkansas’s Black children have a poverty rate of 43%; 21% of Arkansas’s children of two or more races live in poverty; 19% of Hispanic or Latino children in Arkansas live in poverty; while Non-Hispanic White children in Arkansas have the lowest rates of child poverty at 15%. These differences are the result of current and historic policies that have excluded BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) individuals, families and communities from critical investments and resources.
In addition to being ranked 44th for child poverty, Arkansas is in the bottom 10 states on the following indicators:
— Teens ages 16-19 not attending school and not working
— 8th graders below proficient on math level
— Low-birthweight babies
— Child and teen deaths
— Teens ages 10-17 who are overweight or obese
— Children in single-parent families
— Children living in high-poverty areas
— Teen birth rate
“We cannot become complacent as the result of modest improvements on some indicators,” said Keesa Smith-Brantley, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Arkansas’s member of the Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT network. “If you look at the trends in the data from before the pandemic and now, we should be particularly alarmed by the outcomes for our teens. We’re trending in the wrong direction for teens not attending school and not working and teens who are overweight or obese. And while Arkansas’s teen birth rate improves each year, we’re stuck at or near the bottom because of the policy choices and investments we’re not making.”
Each year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community factors — and ranks the states according to how children are faring overall.
In its 36th year of publication, the KIDS COUNT Data Book provides reliable statewide numbers to help leaders see where progress is being made, where greater support is needed and which strategies are making a difference. Arkansas Advocates encourages lawmakers and officials in Arkansas to use this detailed information to unite across party lines and respond with initiatives that invest in young people. By offering a local road map, the Data Book equips policymakers, advocates and communities with the information they need to make decisions that help kids and young people thrive.
“We know what kids need to grow up healthy and connected so they can thrive as adults,” said Smith-Brantley. “Stable homes, strong schools, nutritious food, meaningful relationships and opportunities to learn, play and grow. Programs that meet these needs are smart investments, fostering long-term gains like employment and economic growth.”
CLICK HERE to see the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book.
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