Close to 2.5 million children experienced homelessness in the U.S. in 2013, according to America’s Youngest Outcasts. The report looks at child homelessness nationally and in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
“Child homelessness has reached epidemic proportions in America,” said Dr. Carmela DeCandia, Director of The National Center on Family Homelessness at American Institutes for Research (AIR), which prepared the report. “Children are homeless tonight in every city, county and state—in every part of our nation.”
From 2012 to 2013, the number of children experiencing homelessness annually in the U.S. increased by 8 percent nationally and increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia. The states are ranked in the report using a composite of four domains: (1) extent of child homelessness; (2) well-being of the children; (3) risk for family homelessness; and (4) policy response. All states have children who are homeless.
Top and bottom ranked states are:
Top Ranked
1. Minnesota
2. Nebraska
3. Massachusetts
4. Iowa
5. New Jersey
6. Vermont
7. New Hampshire
8. Pennsylvania
9. Hawaii
10. Maine
Bottom Ranked
42. Kentucky
43. Oklahoma
44. Nevada
45. Arizona
46. New Mexico
47. Arkansas
48. California
49. Mississippi
50. Alabama
