In late January, Children Now released its biannual scorecard that compiles and analyzes county-level data to deliver a current and comprehensive picture of children’s health, education and welfare in each of California’s 58 counties. The launch was accompanied by a webinar highlighting key findings.
Opening the webinar with a nod to the Los Angeles-area fires and the upheaval in federal politics, Children Now President Ted Lempert said, “It’s actually our kids that are most impacted — especially kids of color, our trans kids and youth in foster care. So, it’s a really important time to focus on how our kids are doing and how we can make improvements.”
The “2025 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being” is an interactive tool to access data on the well-being of California’s youth, both as a state average and in each county. Data can be further disaggregated by demographic and year. The data includes health, education, child welfare and early childhood. The 2025 scorecard tracks 40 indicators across those issue areas.
Demographics
There are 2.8 million children and youth in California, with 8.39 million under the age of 18. Forty-eight percent are Latino, with nearly have of those children under 18 coming from immigrant families, 26 percent are white, 14 percent are Asian, 5 percent are Black and 7 percent are “other.” Thirty-six percent of children under 18 live at or below the federal poverty level, 11 percent are LGBTQ and more than 280,000 are experiencing homelessness.
Health
Bright spots highlighted in the webinar are that 97 percent of California children have health insurance and 86 percent of children from low-income families have access to healthy food through CalFresh.
Significant challenges plague the health of children statewide, however:
- Only 31 percent of children in Medi-Cal were screened for lead twice by their second birthday — lead can cause developmental delays and other health problems
- Just 29 percent of eligible teens are getting the HPV vaccine, which can help reduce the chance of certain cancers
- Forty-one percent of children in Medi-Cal visited a dentist
- Thirty-five of California’s 58 counties have kindergarten vaccination levels below 95 percent, the percentage of herd immunity needed to stop the spread of measles.
Education
The majority of California students are not meeting state standards on assessments. “While some gains have been made since the pandemic, progress has been slow and more needs to be done,” said Ben Stewart, Children Now vice president of policy and programs. “As a state, we must redouble efforts to close gaps between student groups. The reality is that we see significant disparities for Black and Latino students, foster youth and students with individualized education programs.”
A sampling of state averages as measured through state assessments finds that 32 percent of eighth graders meet or exceed the standard in math, 33 percent of fifth graders meet the standard in science and 43 percent of third graders meet the standard in reading.
These scores are in part due to the rise of chronic absenteeism, which is still well above pre-pandemic levels. Prior to the pandemic, 12 percent of students statewide were chronically absent, with Latino students approaching parity with their white and Asian peers. However, there has been a sharp increase in chronic absenteeism post-pandemic, especially with Black and Latino students. While the average chronic absence rate is 20 percent statewide, it is 32 percent for Black students and 24 percent for Latino students.
Another contributing factor may be the quality of teachers. There are large disparities across California’s counties in the percentage of fully credentialed teachers, reflecting the difficulties of attracting and retaining qualified educators. “Underqualified educators are disproportionately placed in hard-to-staff schools and schools that serve students with the greatest need,” Stewart said. “This is a policy area that needs reform. Sadly, the statewide teacher shortage has been a chronic issue for decades in California.” Children Now cites teacher apprenticeships as a promising practice.
There are also significant disparities among student groups, with Black students trailing their white, Latino and Asian peers. In 2024, Black students had a 78 percent graduation rate. That rate was 89 percent for white students, 85 percent for Latino students and 92 percent for Asian students.
“The disparities are even greater for students with individualized education programs and foster youth. This is another example where the state needs to focus on closing gaps among student groups and really prioritize our education investments on programs based on both student and school needs,” said Stewart.
In a highlight, state and local efforts to limit suspensions/expulsions for willful defiance are working — in 2016 the rate was 24 percent, in 2024 it was 5 percent, with similar gains for all races.
To view more results and see how each county is doing, visit the scorecard’s interactive tool.
