New Hampshire Considered Best State for Underprivileged Children

By NICHOLAS CARDOSO (Patch Staff)

CHARLENE ARSENAULT (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.

August is Child Support Awareness Month, and in light of this, the personal finance site WalletHub released its analysis of 2015’s Best and Worst States for Underprivileged Children.

In the analysis, WalletHub compared 50 states and the District of Columbia using 15 key metrics that included child food-insecurity, infant death rates, children in single-parent families and children in households with below-poverty income.

New Hampshire topped the list as the best state to be in for disadvantaged children, according to the report. Mississippi ranked last among the states, with the District of Columbia following at No. 51.

New Hampshire scored highly in numerous categories in the study. The Granite State ranked first in the lowest percentage of children in households with below-poverty income, second in lowest child food-insecurity rate, third in lowest percentage of maltreated children and fifth in both fewest children in foster care and in single-parent families.

New Hampshire ranked ninth in education, first in health and second in early foundations and economic well-being.

WalletHub points out that the United States has the second highest rate of child poverty among economically-developed nations, meaning that 14.7 million children in America live under poverty.

Read the full report here.