The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth released its State of the Child in Tennessee 2024 report. The purpose of the State of the Child is to provide an annual overview of the well-being of children, youth and families in Tennessee through the available data. The report seeks to cover as many topics affecting children, youth and families as possible, spanning from maternal and prenatal health to youth aging out of foster care. The data contained in the State of the Child report comes from publicly available reports or data sets.
Key take aways in this report include:
- In 2023, 19.7 percent of Tennessee children lived below the federal poverty line.
- In FY2024, the average market rate for center-based infant care was $13,126, falling just below in-state tuition at University of Tennessee – Knoxville at $13,484.
- Tennessee continues to see growth in TCAP English Language Arts with 39 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2023-24.
- In 2023, 5.6 percent of Tennessee children were uninsured.
- Among Tennessee high school students, nearly one in four had considered attempting suicide within the last year.
- Among Tennessee parents, 86 percent report they know where to go for help in their community when they encounter difficulties.
- The youth crime rate (ages 10 to 17) increased slightly from 2022 to 2023, going from 42.9 per 1,000 to 43.3 per 1,000. Despite the increase, the youth crime rate remains below pre-pandemic numbers.
“As we continue to move forward toward improving lives for children, youth and families across the state. It is important to take time to celebrate the successes we have had, while also continuing to work and invest to make Tennessee the best state for children, youth and families,” said Richard Kennedy, TCCY executive director.
TCCY’s Data Dashboard, FUTURE can be found at tn.gov/tccy-future. You can also find a link to this site by visiting TCCY’s site, here.
About the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth: here.
Information for this article received from Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.
I continue to be flabbergasted at the inaction on firearms in Tennessee. In this report, we see that we are top 10 in the nation in both gun-related homicide victims under 18 (we’re 7th) and suicide by firearm (we’re 10th in children 9-17). Guns continue to be the leading cause of death in children 1-17 at about 20%. In a telling statistic, in 2012 there were 45 homicide victims under 18 in the state, of which only 13 involved a gun. In 2022, 10 years later, the number of homicide victims under 18 increased slightly from 45 to 66, but of those 66, a whopping 57 involved a gun.
But never fear, our state legislature is going to get the 10 Commandments up on the walls of schools, so everything’s fine.