Top states for raising Black children:
- Hawaii
- Utah
- California
- Maine
- Alaska
- Maryland
- Connecticut
- New Hampshire
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
Hawaii is not only the birthplace of our first Black President, but it also has a lot more going for it. The most racially diverse state in the union, Hawaii’s incarceration rate for black people is astronomically lower than the national average. The state also has one of the highest black household income average at $66,629.
Maryland boasts the country’s highest rates of black homeownership and of blacks holding advanced degrees. Twenty-six percent of black Marylanders have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Blacks in Maryland also make a lot more money than black people in other states (the average income is $57,907) and live in some of the wealthiest black communities in the country-including Friendly, Bowie, Fort Washington, Mitchellville and Kettering
Other key information that’s good to know is:
– Ten percent of Mississippi teens aren’t in school and not working, which is more than double Minnesota’s rate; and a third of Mississippi high schoolers don’t graduate on time.
– Only 23 percent of fourth graders are considered proficient at reading in New Mexico-that’s 12 percent lower than the national average.
– Massachusetts had the lowest percentage of 8th graders not proficient in math in 2015 at 49 percent. Alabama, in contrast, had the highest rate – 83 percent.
– Nationally, 6 percent of children lacked health insurance in 2014. That’s a 40 percent improvement from 2008.