Iowa moved up four spots in the annual “Kids Count” survey, to third in the country this year.
The survey by the Anne E. Casey Foundation looks at 16 factors believed to be an indication of how well kids are doing in each of the 50 states. Massachusetts and Vermont were ranked one and two. Iowa Kids Count Director Michael Crawford says the move by Iowa shows how close the states in the top 10 are.
The four health areas ranked are the number of low birthweight babies, the number of children without health insurance, the number of child and teen deaths and the number of teens who use drugs or alcohol. Iowa also saw an improvement in all four education areas.
New Hampshire and Minnesota rounded out the top five in the survey behind Iowa.
Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and Mississippi ranked lowest among the states.