Data Shows Lives of Children Improving in Somerset

Somerset County is in third place in the New Jersey Kids Count, which looks at progress in terms of improving the lives of children in several critical areas.

The report, from Advocates for Children of New Jersey, found that the well-being of Somerset County children has gotten better, with the county’s median family income being, on average, $118,000. The study found that fewer households are spending too much on rent, and there has been a decline in the child poverty rate.

The county’s child poverty rate dropped from 7 percent in 2010 to 5 percent in 2011. But, the report said, the number of Somerset County children living in families that are earning too little to meet the needs they have rose 122 percent over the years, from 1,679 in 2007 to 3,728 in 2011.

In terms of school breakfasts, Somerset ranked 19 for participation in the federally funded school breakfast program, and 14 percent of eligible children received a morning meal at school during the 2011-12 school year.

That was as opposed to 31 percent receiving the free and reduced lunch throughout the entire state in the 2011-2012 year.

According to the report, 6.8 percent of residents in the county were unemployed as of 2012, and 44 percent spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent in 2011.

The study also looked at rankings for birth to females, and found that those giving birth between the ages of 10 and 19 rose from 3 percent in 2008 to 4 percent in 2009. The county moved from 5th to 6th place in this category’s ranking.

The report states that, in 2009, 90 percent of women were receiving early prenatal care.

In addition, 30 out of 1,000 children were the subject of child abuse investigations and two out of 1,000 were in an out-of-home placement. This data is all from 2011 in the county.

Finally, 14 out of 1,000 children were the subject of juvenile arrests in 2011.

As for education, in the 2011-2012 school year, 83 percent of county students passed the fourth grade test, 87 percent passed eighth grade tests and 91 percent passed 11th grade tests.

The infant mortality rate also from two deaths per 1,000 in 2008 to three in 2009.

All of this data is for Somerset County only, which, according to the Kids Count County Profile from the organization, had a child population in 2011 of 79,587.