An estimated 1.6 million Texas children live in poverty -- and that's just the start of the bad news included in the annual "Kids Count" report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The Lone Star State is rated 41st among the best places to raise your kids. Center for Public Policy Priorities research analyst Kristie Tingle says one-fourth of our kids are "food insecure."
“That number is pretty constant when you look at cities, when you look at small towns,” Tingle says. “When people hear these numbers they shouldn't just think, oh, this is some other part of Texas. This is your part of Texas, too.”
States like Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi are ranked behind Texas.
We’re trending down.
“It's leading to 1.6 million Texas kids living in poverty,” she says. “There are a lot of kids who don't have the resources they need to thrive.”
There was good news in the report -- high school dropout rates and teen birth rates have both improved since 2010.