Few statistically significant differences among welfare of kids in Ohio, West Virginia

The Kids Count Data Center is a treasure trove of statistics about the welfare of our nation's children. Administered by the Annie B. Casey Foundation, the database tracks statistics having to do with everything from babies' birth weights to teen births to poverty levels to education to abuse. Perusing the data on Ohio and West Virginia today, I found that overall, the states are not as different as some might perceive. In fact, although the official overall Kids Count rank for Ohio is 29th out of 50 states and West Virginia is 44th, you can see below that on the measures I highlighted, the numbers are very close. One of the biggest differences is in the percentage of pregnant women who smoke: 19 percent in Ohio compared to a whopping 27 percent in West Virginia.

Overall Kids Count Rank out of 50 states:

Ohio: 29

W.Va.: 44

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Child population in 2009 (18 and under):

Ohio: 2.7 million

W.Va.: 386,000

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Percent of births to females less than 20 years of age in 2009:

Ohio: 11 percent

W.Va.: 13 percent

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Percent of births to mothers who smoked during pregnancy in 2009:

Ohio: 19 percent

W.Va.: 27 percent

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Percent of children living in married/couple households in 2010:

Ohio: 65 percent

W.Va.: 68 percent

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Percent of children living in mother only households in 2010:

Ohio: 27 percent

W.Va.: 23 percent

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Percent of children living in father only households in 2010:

Ohio: 7 percent

W.Va.: 8 percent

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Percent of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment in 2010:

Ohio: 34 percent

W.Va.: 37 percent

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Teen births, ages 15-19, per 1,000 in 2009:

Ohio: 39

W.Va.: 50

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Percent very low birthweight babies in 2009

Ohio: 1.6 percent

W.Va.: 1.5 percent

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Percent children ages 1-5 whose family members read to them less than three days a week in 2007:

Ohio: 14 percent

W.Va.: 10 percent

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Percent children and teens, ages 10-17, overweight or obese in 2007:

Ohio: 33 percent

W.Va.: 36 percent

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Top 10 Kids Count rated states:

1. New Hampshire

2. Minnessota

3. Massachussetts

4. Vermont

5. New Jersey

6. Connecticut

7. Utah

8. Iowa

9. Nebraska

10. North Dakota

Have any of you lived in any of these top-ranked states and, if so, why do you think children there fare so much better than Ohio or West Virginia kids?