NC Child releases statistics from 2017 

COLUMBUS—NC Child recently released data on all North Carolina’s 100 counties on how children are doing across the state and concluded that in 2017, 43.7 percent of Polk County children were living in poor or low-income homes.  

Children in Polk County households that are food insecure were at 22.2 percent in 2016, according to the report.  

The median family income for Polk County families was $48,412 between 2013 and 2017, according to NC Child.  

Children in foster care per 1,000 was 19.4 in 2017, and 16.6 in 2016. Children assessed for abuse or neglect were 71.1 per 1,000 in 2017 and 68.9 in 2017, according to the report.  

Polk County’s child population, according to NC Child was 4,347. There were 161 live births, with 26 percent of the children in Polk County under the age of six.  

In 2017, 65.8 percent of women received early prenatal care; 6.2 percent of babies were born at a low birth weight and 9.3 percent of babies were born pre-term according to NC Child.  

The report also included statistics on education and healthcare for children in Polk County.  

In the 2017-2018 school year, 72.9 percent of third grade students in Polk County scored proficient in reading and 92 percent of Polk County students graduated on time in 2018. In 2017, 88.5 percent of Polk County high school students graduated on time, according to the report.  

Polk County residents who held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2017 was 31.9 percent, according to NC Child, and 31.8 percent in 2016.  

Children without health insurance in 2017 was at 7 percent, down slightly from 2016 at 7.6 percent.  

According to NC Child, there are currently 1,767 people in Polk County who have no health coverage.  

The infant mortality per 1,000 live births in 2017 was 6.2, compared to 7.1 in 2016, according to the report.  

The latest county data cards by NC Child explored 15 key indicators in every North Carolina county, including educational outcomes and child abuse and neglect.  

There are more than 100,000 parents in North Carolina who are currently without health insurance, according to NC Child.