An Index of Child Well-Being at a Local Level in the U.S.: The Case of North Carolina Counties

To measure child well-being, we constructed composite indices with equal weights to component indicators for four domains such as health, safety, education, and economic well-being. The overall index was also constructed in the same way with equal weights to component domains. Based on the index scores (overall and four domains), North Carolina counties were ranked. In addition, urban and rural counties as well as four physiographic regions were also compared in terms of child well-being. According to the findings in the present study, urban counties generally provide better environments for child well-being although they are not statistically different in most domains of child well-being. Among four physiographic regions, the Inner Coastal region provides a significantly lower level of child well-being than the other regions in most domains, whereas the Blue Ridge and the Outer Coastal regions provide a generally higher level of child well-being than the Piedmont and the Outer Coastal Regions in most domains. These findings would not only help citizens make a more informed decision about where to live and where to raise their children, but also provide policy makers and implementers an idea about the strengths and weaknesses in their communities and what they should do to make their communities more attractive.