NJ Kids Count Rankings: Somerset County Ranks 1st in Education, 14th in Child Health 

Somerset County ranked among the top two counties for economic health, education, and safety and
well‐being, but was 14th in child health, according to the annual New Jersey Kids Count county profiles
and pocket guide released today.

View County Profiles and Ranking

View pocket guide, New Jersey Kids Count 2017: The State of Our Counties

(county-by-county trend data on 40 indicators of child health and well-being)

As New Jersey elects a new governor and legislature this fall, ACNJ encourages voters to use the data proactively and engage with candidates to make kids' issues a part of the conversation. To learn more about the #NJVotes4Kids campaign, please visit njvotes4kids.org.

The rankings, which compare counties on 12 measures of child well‐being, and across four domains –
economics, health, safety and well‐being, and education – provide a closer look at how children are
faring in various parts of the state, often revealing a range of outcomes depending on where they live.
The pocket guide, NJ Kids Count 2017: The State of Our Counties provides county‐by‐county child trend
data across 40 measures of child well‐being.

“Somerset children are less likely to live in families struggling to make ends meet and more likely to have
better attendance and graduate high school,” said Cecilia Zalkind, president and CEO of Advocates for
Children New Jersey, which produces the state Kids Count reports. “Still, in the coming years, the county
could do better in ensuring more young children are tested for lead. Less than 13 percent of children
under age 6 received a blood lead test in 2015; the state average is about 27 percent.”

Zalkind said that she hopes community leaders can use the data to recognize areas of concern and
target resources to improve the lives of children in their county.

Somerset County Ranks:
Second in Child and Family Economics: For the more than 76,000 children that call Somerset County
home, 8 percent live in poverty, compared to the state average of 16 percent. Unemployment is 4.1
percent, just below New Jersey’s 5 percent. Forty‐four percent of Somerset County households have
high rent burdens, meaning they pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

14th in Child Health: Only about 12 percent of all Somerset children under age 6 received a blood lead
test in 2015; that puts the county 17th overall on this measure. The percentage of kids without health
insurance – 2.3 percent, out performs the state’s average of 3.7.

Second in Safety and Well‐Being: The percentage of teens not in school and not working, sometimes
referred to as idle or disconnected youth, is 3 percent, far below the state’s average of 6 percent,
putting Somerset at the top of this measure. In addition, 6.6 percent of reported cases of child abuse or
neglect were substantiated or established in 2015, down from 8.6 in 2011. Somerset County also saw a
dramatic decrease in juvenile arrests rates from 14.0 in 2011 to 7.9 in 2015.

First in Education: Somerset County’s high school graduation rate of 94 percent is in the top five highest
graduation rates in the state—higher than New Jersey’s rate of 90 percent. Forty‐nine percent of low‐
income Somerset County students start the day with school breakfast, placing the county sixth on this
indicator. And roughly 5 percent of students are chronically absent, meaning they miss 10 percent or
more of enrolled school days.

In addition to the county rankings, Advocates for Children of New Jersey also released New Jersey Kids
Count 2017: The State of Our Children, in May, which provides state‐level data in all areas of child well‐
being.

To read the reports, visit www.acnj.org.
###
KIDS COUNT is a national and state‐by‐state statistical effort to track the state of children in the United
States, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Advocates for Children of New Jersey is a statewide
child research and action organization and the New Jersey Kids Count grantee.