The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth has 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 TCCY Executive Director Richard Kennedy.
Release Information
The State of the Child in Tennessee 2024 can be found at www.tn.gov/tccy/stateofthechild. Our data highlights document can also be found at www.tn.gov/tccy/stateofthechild and provides an abbreviated look at some of the key data contained in the 2024 report.
he State of the Child is one of several reports that TCCY releases annually. Additionally, TCCY publishes County Profiles, Budget Recommendations, the Youth Transitions Advisory Council Report, and Resource Mapping Report. Each report relies heavily on data gathered by state and federal departments as well as non-governmental organizations. Now, many indicators used for each of the reports as well as additional information can be found in one location, TCCY’s data dashboard, FUTURE.
When using FUTURE, users can:
- See premade interactive graphs and infographics with the latest data on child well-being.
- Access county-level indicators to learn more about children in their community.
- See changes in child well-being throughout the decade by selecting previous year’s data.
- The Dashboard also allows users to download the displayed data, and if available, additional historical data in excel format to work on their own.
“Building the best future for Tennessee children, youth and families requires understanding where we are and where we have been. We believe the FUTURE Data Dashboard will be a critical tool to empower Tennesseans and shape decisions as we all work together to build that future,” said TCCY Director of Data, Policy, and Communications Kylie Graves.
TCCY’s mission to lead systems improvement for all Tennessee children and families through data-driven advocacy, education and collaboration will be significantly supported by this new data dashboard. FUTURE will allow our partners, citizens and communities who rely on the data we gather, a way to find that information and additional data year-round. FUTURE is the next step in our efforts to advocate for data-driven decisions to improve the lives of children and youth in Tennessee.
Release Information
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, tn.gov/tccy.
