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WYOMING KIDS COUNT
2007 KIDS COUNT Wyoming Fact Sheet
Wyoming ranks 25th in the nation according to a new state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s children. The 2007 KIDS COUNT Data Book reveals that Wyoming improved on five of the ten measures reflecting child well-being, and experienced setbacks on five since 2000. The 2007 Essay discusses the need for all children in foster care to develop strong, lasting family connections. The Essay also sets an ambitious national goal to preserve, strengthen, rebuild, or find permanent families for every American child who is at risk of not having one.
Over 1,800 Wyoming children are in need of a permanent family connection.
In 2004, 1,897 children under age 18 in Wyoming lived in foster care at some point during the year, a rate of 16 per 1,000 children. That year, 41 children in the state aged out of the system without having a permanent family. Nationwide, 10 children per 1,000 under age 18 lived in foster care with 22,718 leaving the system at age 18 without a stable family environment.
Wyoming child population continues to shrink
There were 13,548 less children in Wyoming in 2005 than in 2000, an 11 percent decrease. This decrease occurred in every race/ethnicity category accept Native American/Alaskan Native which increased by 4 percent.
Boom gives child poverty rank a bounce
In 2005, 11 percent of the state’s total child population lived in poverty, a 27 percent improvement from 2000 when the rate was 15 percent. During those same years, the national child poverty rate increased by 12 percent from 17 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2005.
Hardworking Wyoming parents still struggling to support families
Wyoming’s trend for the percentage of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment improved by 12 percent between 2000 and 2005, while the national rate increase trailed by half. Additionally, the percentage of children living in low income households where no adult worked was only 1 percent in 2005, compared to 5 percent nationally. Living at less than 200 percent poverty, 34 percent of Wyoming’s children live in households that are clearly impoverished or are struggling for a firm foothold in the middle class.
Children in low-income families that spend more than 30% of their income on housing increased from 32% in 2000 to 43% in 2005. In 2004, 12 percent of Wyoming’s children did not have health insurance, a rate slightly higher than the national average of 11 percent.
Wyoming’s students performing above national average
In 2005, 22 percent of 4th grade students scored below basic science level compared to the national average of 34 percent. Nationally, 43 percent of 8th graders scored below basic science level compared to 26 percent in Wyoming.
The Wyoming KIDS COUNT project is funded through a generous grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This project tracks the status of children in our state by providing benchmarks of well-being in the Wyoming KIDS COUNT data book.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation also has a valuable website that allows users to access state specific information. CLIKS is a great tool for anyone who wants to take a closer look at the data that affects the lives of the people in the community.
In addition the Annie E. Casey Foundation annually produces a national data book that allows comparison of the well-being of children state by state. The national book may be accessed at www.aecf.org/kidscount/data.htm.
Previous Data Books
- “Taking Stock” 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book (10 MB file)
- 2004 KIDS COUNT Data Book (13 MB file)
- 2003 KIDS COUNT in Wyoming Factbook (5 MB file)
To view and print the download version of the data book you will need the Free Acrobat Reader. Most computers vendors pre-install this software on their computers, so you probably won't need to do anything extra to view and print the factbook.