Still above average, but Minnesota’s education lead is shrinking, annual nationwide report says

Minnesota remains a top state for children overall, but its education ranking has fallen as new data shows the state is recovering more slowly than its peers.

Minnesota ranked fifth overall in the nation for child well-being in the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book released this week. But in the education category, the state slipped to 21st for the year of 2024, which is the most recent year cited in the report.

A year prior, in 2023, Minnesota ranked 18th in the nation, and the state was previously at ninth in 2019 and 2021, according to additional online data from the foundation.

This latest annual report, for the first time, compared some learning outcomes from before the pandemic to a few years after it. It found learning outcomes declined in Minnesota from 2019 to 2024, a trend seen in 47 states, but the data suggests Minnesota has been recovering at a slower pace than peer states, remaining ahead o...