National rankings that gauge the well-being of children show the number of Colorado youngsters living in high-poverty neighborhoods is growing faster than in any other state.

Overall, Colorado placed 21st out of 50 states in the 2013 Kids Count Data Book, an annual report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that examines economic, education, health and family data.

The ranking is a bump of one spot from last year, when the state was 22nd in the country.

The study cited four areas where the state worsened.

Poverty rates increased, the state has more children with parents who do not have full-time or year-round work, and there is an uptick in the number of single-parent households.

Those declines, coupled with an increase of 77,000 children living in high-poverty areas between 2000 and 2011, raise concerns locally about the long-term impacts for children.

“We’ve always known that it is really troubling that we’ve had a growing number of kids living in poverty, but when you pair that with the growing number of children in high-poverty neighborhoods, that has implications that include poor educational outcomes and poor health outcomes for all kids, not just those kids who are living in low-income families,” said Sarah Hughes, research director for the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

About 18 percent, or 217,000, of Colorado children lived in poverty in 2011, an increase of 4 percentage points since 2005.

In Adams County, an additional 11,000 children fell below the poverty line between 2005 and 2011, according to the study. The increase means that 23 percent of the children in the county now live below the poverty threshold of $22,000 annually for a family of four.

“That definitely fits with what people in our community feel,” said Lisa Jansen Thompson, director of the Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County. “We’ve been struggling over the last couple of years to see how we can best meet the needs of children and families despite the fact that they have lots of factors that put them at risk.”

The national Kids Count study places Colorado among the top 10 states in areas relating to education but in the bottom 10 on health care issues. About 9 percent of Colorado’s children do not have health insurance, compared with the national average of 7 percent.

Hughes said the statistics do not offer a complete picture. She said while Colorado seems to be performing well in education, wide gaps remain between the performance of white children and minorities.

On the other end, Hughes said the number of children with access to medical care has improved dramatically since 2008, when 14 percent did not have health insurance.

“That is the lowest level that we’ve seen in Colorado in many, many years,” Hughes said.

Zahira Torres: 303-954-1244, ztorres@denverpost.com or twitter.com/zahiratorresdp

Numbers

21st

Where Colorado ranks in the new survey

18%

Number of Colorado children living in poverty in 2011

Source: 2013 Kids Count Data Book