A new report ranks Michigan within the bottom half of states when it comes to child well-being. Michigan’s 34th place ranking puts it last in the Midwest.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book based that on factors like health, education, economic well-being, family, and community.
Michigan’s highest score came in the health category, where it ranked 21st in the nation, thanks in part to the state’s relatively low number of kids without health insurance.
Anne Kuhnen is the Kids Count policy director for the Michigan League for Public Policy.
“We have, at the state, really invested in healthcare, making sure that children have access to health insurance. Medicaid expansion certainly was a big part of that. Making sure parents are insured is also important,” Kuhnen said.
Besides health, Michigan also saw overall progress compared to pre-pandemic levels when it came to family and community settings for kids, matching a national trend. Some of that came from a decline in teen births compared to 2019.
Despite the progress, Kuhnen worried some federal policy changes included in H.R. 1, President Donald Trump's signature budget legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could put some of Michigan’s bright spots at risk.
“We did see the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history, meaning that those will have consequences for generations, Kuhnen said, referencing the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which gives low-income people money to buy food. "The federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid are almost certainly going to worsen child health,” she said.
The state’s lowest ranking came in the education category, where Michigan came in 42nd in the country.
Using data from 2024, the report found 75% of fourth graders weren’t proficient at reading and 76% of eighth graders weren’t proficient at math.
Across the country, education performances were mostly down compared to before the COVID pandemic.
In nearly all categories, those numbers became far more pronounced when accounting for race and ethnicity.
Nationwide, Black kids were three times as likely as white children to live in poverty. Percentages of Black and Indigenous kids behind at reading and math were both at least 14 percentage points higher than the national average.
Studies have routinely pointed to inequities in education.
Kuhnen said she was encouraged, however, by some of the steps Michigan has taken in recent years to change course. She wants lawmakers to continue investing in childhood reading, students at risk of falling behind, and teacher training.
“Continuing to make those investments is going to be really important, right? We can't pull back now before we've even seen the effect that these added investments can have,” she said.
Proposals for the next state budget have shared many similar priorities when it comes to putting resources toward education.
