Which state has the biggest share of kids?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the biggest share of people under 18? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… California — it has the most people of any state!
Answer
The real order is…
Utah wins: more than 1 in 4 people there is under 18, while nationwide it's closer to 1 in 5.
📚 Background Utah is America's youngest state: more than 1 in 4 people there is under 18, while across the whole country it's closer to 1 in 5. At the other end, Maine has the smallest share — under 18%. (This is a share, not a head count: a bigger state can have more children in total and still sit lower on this list.) (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🧒『The state where more than one in four is a kid』→ I bet… California — it has the most people of any state!
Compare
Share of people under 18 (%, ACS 2023)
Highest: Utah (27.3 %); lowest: Maine (17.6 %).
Note: this is a share, not a count — out of every 100 people, how many are under 18. A big state can have more kids in total even with a smaller share.
Geography is destiny!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Utah is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Utah | 27.3 % |
| #2 | Texas | 24.7 % |
| #3 | Nebraska | 24.2 % |
| #4 | Alaska | 23.8 % |
| #4 | Oklahoma | 23.8 % |
| #4 | South Dakota | 23.8 % |
| #7 | Idaho | 23.7 % |
| #8 | Kansas | 23.4 % |
| #9 | Louisiana | 23.3 % |
| #10 | Georgia | 23 % |
| #10 | Indiana | 23 % |
| #10 | Mississippi | 23 % |
| #13 | Arkansas | 22.9 % |
| #13 | North Dakota | 22.9 % |
| #15 | Iowa | 22.6 % |
| #15 | Minnesota | 22.6 % |
| #17 | Kentucky | 22.4 % |
| #18 | Wyoming | 22.3 % |
| #19 | Alabama | 22.1 % |
| #19 | Missouri | 22.1 % |
| #21 | Maryland | 22 % |
| #22 | Tennessee | 21.9 % |
| #23 | Ohio | 21.8 % |
| #24 | California | 21.7 % |
| #25 | New Jersey | 21.6 % |
| #26 | Illinois | 21.5 % |
| #26 | Virginia | 21.5 % |
| #28 | Nevada | 21.4 % |
| #28 | North Carolina | 21.4 % |
| #30 | Arizona | 21.3 % |
| #30 | South Carolina | 21.3 % |
| #32 | New Mexico | 21.2 % |
| #33 | Washington | 21.1 % |
| #34 | Michigan | 21 % |
| #34 | Wisconsin | 21 % |
| #36 | Montana | 20.8 % |
| #37 | Colorado | 20.6 % |
| #38 | Delaware | 20.5 % |
| #38 | Hawaii | 20.5 % |
| #40 | New York | 20.2 % |
| #40 | Pennsylvania | 20.2 % |
| #42 | Connecticut | 20 % |
| #43 | West Virginia | 19.9 % |
| #44 | Oregon | 19.6 % |
| #45 | Florida | 19.4 % |
| #46 | Massachusetts | 19.2 % |
| #47 | Rhode Island | 18.5 % |
| #48 | New Hampshire | 17.9 % |
| #49 | Vermont | 17.7 % |
| #50 | Maine | 17.6 % |
| 🇺🇸 USA (national figure) | 21.7 % |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2023 (ACS 1-year estimates))
Sources
Data as of: 2023 (ACS 1-year estimates)
U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2023 1-year profile DP05_0019PE (share of people under 18) (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-02) — Official published survey estimates (the committed raw file is the API response, unchanged).
↳ On data.census.gov, open profile table “DP05” for 2023 and read DP05_0019PE (share of people under 18) by state.