A new report from personal finance website WalletHub has ranked the states with the best—and the worst—children’s health care.
Why It Matters
WalletHub reported that about 94 percent of children have health insurance, but families still face high costs, with workers contributing an average of $6,850 annually toward employer-sponsored family coverage, underscoring that high coverage rates do not always translate to affordability for pediatric care needs.
How It Was Calculated
WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across three dimensions—Kids’ Health and Access to Health Care, Kids’ Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, and Kids’ Oral Health—using 33 metrics graded on a 100-point scale. Its experts then calculated weighted averages to produce total scores and ranks for each jurisdiction, with data collected as of March 10, 2026 from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Dental Association, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other data sets.
What To Know
Massachusetts placed first overall with top ranks for Kids’ Health and Access and Kids’ Nutrition and Physical Activity. The state boasted strong outcomes such as the nation’s lowest share of uninsured children at 1.6 percent, the third-lowest infant-death rate, and the second-lowest death rate for children 14 and under, with children also reporting the lowest soda consumption rate.
Rhode Island ranked second overall, with only 6.5 percent of residents reporting trouble paying their children’s medical bills, the second-lowest rate nationally. The state had the sixth-lowest percentage of uninsured children, the second-highest number of children’s hospitals per capita, the eighth-lowest out-of-pocket pediatric costs, one of the lowest child death rates, and high vaccination uptake with over 80 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving the combined seven-vaccine series, according to the CDC data cited by WalletHub.
Connecticut ranked third overall, boosted by a high number of pediatricians and family doctors per capita, the highest share of children ages 19 to 35 months with the combined seven-vaccine series, strong nutrition metrics including the 10th-lowest share of children who eat fruit less than once per day, fifth-best access to healthy food, the fourth-lowest rate of uninsured children, one of the nation’s lowest infant mortality rates, and the lowest death rate for children under 14, WalletHub found.
Rounding out the top five were Vermont and Hawaii.
On the flip side, Mississippi, Arizona Alaska, Montana, and Kentucky were the lowest-ranked states in the study.
What People Are Saying
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report: “The quality of children’s health care should be one of the most important considerations for parents when deciding where to live. Having access to quality pediatric and dental care, nutritious food and good spaces for recreation from a young age can give children a much better chance of growing up healthy and forming good habits that will last into their adult life.”
What Happens Next
WalletHub regularly publishes fresh studies and reports.
