The Kids Count project is an effort to track the status of children in the United States on a state-by-state basis. The benchmark figures presented give policymakers a clearer picture of the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children. High rates of child poverty and births to single teens continue in the United States, and many teens do not graduate from high school on time. The multiple problems experienced by children result from complex social and economic pressures that lead to numbers of distressed communities. Also contributing to the crises in our communities is the decline of critical institutions. Some four million children are growing up in communities that cannot assure them the childhood and hopes to which all American children are entitled. Two figures and 13 maps present data for the nation as a whole, and individual tables for each of the states and the District of Columbia give trend information for a number of indicators of poverty, violence, health status, and family circumstances. Four appendixes provide information about the conduct of the study and multiyear data. (SLD)