A report ranking Tennessee children’s well-being by county shows Shelby County lags in health, education and economics. 

The 2023 county profiles from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth include county-level measures of 52 indicators in areas affecting child development. 

Shelby County ranks 93rd out of Tennessee’s 95 counties. 

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“Many aspects of child well-being are intertwined,” said Kylie Graves, policy specialist at the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. “Economic challenges can create additional household stressors leading to some of the challenges we see reflected in the health and educational indicators.” 

Shelby County has one of the state’s largest child populations, ranking third with 25% of residents under age 18. And nearly a quarter of those children live in poverty, according to the county report. 

Shelby County ranks 91st in food security, with 21.7% of children lacking access to adequate food. 

“Expanding support for parents, particularly new parents, is critical,” Graves said. “Ensuring that those who are eligible for benefits, such as WIC, SNAP, TennCare or CoverKids, are receiving those benefits means looking at expanding outreach and how we communicate eligibility.”

Nearly 12% of Shelby County babies are born at a low birth weight, which ranks the county No. 93. 

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“That’s why our proposed budget prioritizes the needs of working families, mothers and youth,” said Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. “We have proposed a reimagining and rebuilding of our county’s only public hospital, Regional One. This ensures that Regional One can expand their care for mothers and their babies, health care for the uninsured, and access to preventative care across our county.”

The county ranks No. 94 in youth graduating high school on time. 

To encourage on-time high school graduation, the report emphasized the need to make high school students aware of community college and technical school benefits available to them through the Tennessee Promise program. 

“We’ve also proposed the construction of the two new high schools in Memphis-Shelby County Schools and more than double the capital funding for our suburban public schools,” Harris said. “If we can get this done, these projects will improve the lives of families and children across our community.”

The county’s biggest challenge is the percentage of households that experience a severe housing cost burden, where it ranks 95th. 

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The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth’s county profile said Shelby County can improve negative outcomes related to high housing costs with proactive housing policies that help ensure affordable housing is available for people to live where they work. 

Policies might include approving more apartment construction, applying for affordable housing trust fund competitive grants, and improving the ease of usage and communication with landlords and renters using Housing Choice Vouchers to increase the number of landlords willing to accept them. 

The report found Shelby County’s strongest area was family and community. The county ranks 12th in the rate of children who were victims of abuse or neglect.

The county also performs well in the percentage of children who are uninsured, which is 6.2% or 48th among Tennessee counties. 

“As everything is intertwined, improving outcomes takes a holistic approach, but each small step we can make as a state, city or community has a ripple effect toward improving outcomes for our children,” Graves said.