State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

The Worrisome Relationship Between Population Projections and State Spending on Kids

Governing: Should geography determine a child's chances for success? A new look at how much states spend per kid indicates that might be the case.

An analysis by the Urban Institute found that states that spend more per child tend to have better outcomes when taking public education, health and social services into account. At the two ends of the spectrum, Vermont spends nearly three times as much annually on children as Utah. The national average is $7,900 per child. A total of 14 states spend less than $7,000 per child and nine spend more than $10,000 each year.

The analysis also found regional trends: States in the Northeast are more likely to spend more while states spending less than $7,000 per child are mostly in the South and West.

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