Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth Release New Study
A new study has been released from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. They ranked all 95 counties in the state looking at various factors like economic well-being, education, health, family and community…those include factors like percentage of children born to unwed mothers, child and teen deaths per 100,000 and children without health insurance. Bad news for Cocke County as the county ranks 82nd out of 95 counties. Part of that is due to the high percentage of births to unwed mothers in the county with 55% which ranks 88th in the state. 30.3% of children in the county live below the poverty line which ranks 92nd. Median Household income ranks 89th in the state at $41,576 per year. Cocke County does rank high as far as children with health insurance as only 4% of children in the county do not have health coverage…that ranks in the top 5 in the state.
Other counties in the area…Washington and Blount counties ranked in the top 10. Jefferson County ranked 29th, Greene ranked 38th, Sevier was 45th and Hamblen County ranked 55th. Cocke County was not the lowest in East Tennessee, that dishonor went to Hancock county which ranked 91st out of 95 counties. The two largest counties in the state ranked lower than Cocke County in ratings, as Davidson County…Nashville was 90th and Shelby County…Memphis was 94th…one rung above the bottom. That 95th ranking belongs to Madison County which is Jackson, TN in the western part of the state.