Children's Issues

• Colorado's high school graduation rate in 2007 was 75% (71.5% male, 78.6% female)
• Colorado teen birth rates have declined somewhat at 22 out of 1,000 in 2007
• 15.1% of all children in Colorado live in poverty (179,409 children)
• Colorado ranks eighth highest in the nation for the average annual cost of center-based infant care.
  
• The price of infant care is nearly 50 percent of median single- parent incomes and 15 percent of two-parent family incomes in Colorado. 
  
• Colorado ranks third highest in the nation in the average annual cost of care for a 4-year old in a child care center with an average of $9,765 per year. 
  
• This is about 40 percent of the median single parent’s income and 13 percent of the median two-parent family income.
• With these high costs, child care is unaffordable for many families, but particularly so for single parents.  In Colorado, the median family income for single parents is $24,195.  The average annual price for two children in center-based care is $20,619, or more than 85 percent of the family’s income. 
  
• Colorado is ranked sixth in the nation in the least affordable states for single parents to find center care for two children.
• In 2007, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment reported 70,804 births in Colorado.  With only 8,372 slots available for licensed infant child care state-wide, the shortfall is evident.  
• Colorado again ranked 50th in the nation in children in poverty who were uninsured.  Colorado remains last with 35 percent compared to 18 percent nationally.
  

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