Young Child Risk Calculator

The risk factors used in this tool are known to increase the chance of poor health, school, and developmental outcomes for young children. Economic hardship paired with any of the listed risk factors may indicate a greater chance of poor outcomes. Children with three or more risks are exceptionally vulnerable. Information about the prevalence of young children experiencing these risks can inform policies aimed at improving outcomes for vulnerable children and reducing the number of children experiencing early risks.

Choose a state

Choose an age range






Choose an income level




Choose risk factors








Select all

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Use the form on the left to see the following information for your state:

  • The percentage and number of young children in a state, within a specified age range, who are experiencing selected risk factors
  • The percentage and number of young children in a state, within a specified income group (deep poverty, poverty, low-income) and age range, who are experiencing selected risk factors (e.g., teen parent, residential mobility). This information can be used to see the risk factors that should be targeted by policies for families in different income and child age bands. Please note that the YCRC previously displayed the percentage and number of children in each state, under age 9 (in several age-bands) who are in families at different income levels and experiencing different risk factors; these data are no longer presented, as of September 2018, but are available upon request.

NOTE: Users may sometimes see a single asterisk for a group displayed on the chart indicating a percentage may be "unreliable" This occurs when a state has a relatively small number of children in a particular group, such as children age 3 to 5 with a teen parent. Highly unreliable results, due to very small numbers of children in particular groups, will be indicated by two asterisks next to the group label. States with lower populations will have more unreliable results.

Multiple risks:

In addition, a third chart will show young children (in the specified age band) who are experiencing multiple risks (any combination of the seven risk factors and low income).

Federal Poverty Threshold:

For specific dollar amounts associated with each poverty threshold for different family sizes, please see the US Census website.

Technical Assistance

Please contact us at ito@nccp.org if you are interested in having NCCP provide:

  • Background information on policies for presentations to a policy audience
  • Assistance in selecting/presenting information for policy and advocacy reports and materials (e.g., compare your state’s eligibility levels for child care to other states and national trends)
  • Research on risk factors and implications for designing policies and targeting programs