MAINE (WABI) – For 36 years, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has published data regarding the well-being of children nationwide.
According to the 2025 Kids Count Data Book, a report of recent data across all 50 states shows Maine ranks 17th overall when it comes to supporting kids and families.
Kristen Kinchla is the research associate at Maine Children’s Alliance.
She says reports like this help advocates and state officials understand what strategies are working and what’s not.
According to the report, Maine ranks 16th in economic well-being, 19th in health, and 6th in family and community.
“We have fewer children who are lacking health insurance, and we have fewer children living in poverty,” said Kinchla.
“We attribute the increases in children with insurance to the state’s expansion of Medicaid for kids.”
However, Maine ranks 41st in education, the lowest score Maine has seen since 1992.
Experts evaluated stats around young kids ages three to four not in school, fourth graders not proficient in reading, eighth graders not proficient in math and high school students not graduating on time.
Kinchla said reading has been a subject of decline since the pandemic nationwide, and this report should open up opportunities to invest in the future.
“It’s putting in support for students and their learning to read so that they can learn to read in future grades, and then it’s also making sure that we have support for teachers to facilitate that learning,” said Kinchla.
Another national trend affecting Mainers, the cost of living.
The report said kids are growing up in households with a high housing burden, meaning families are spending more than 30 percent of their household income solely on housing.
A lot of childcare advocates across the state are concerned about cuts at the state and federal levels, impacting programs like SNAP or Medicaid.
Kinchla said there will be potential cuts in different areas, but it will impact the same families.
“It’s clear that we’re doing good things for kids and families in Maine, and we want to keep that good progress going, but if state budgets are significantly impacted, it’s really going to come down on kids and families, and we’re going to feel that for generations to come,” said Kinchla.
To view the full report, follow this link and select Maine.
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