This guide compares statistics for black and non-Hispanic white children in each state to assess gaps in economic, educational, and social wellbeing. It uses data from the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census and addresses: demographics (e.g., number of children under age 18, under age 6, ages 6-12, and ages 13-17); families and households (e.g., percent of children in married-couple and single-parent families and percent of children living with neither parent); income and poverty (e.g., percent of married-couple families with children in poverty and percent of female-headed families with children in poverty); education (e.g., percent of students in private and public schools and percent of children out of school and not working); parental and youth employment (e.g., percent of children in two-parent and one-parent families with parents in the labor force and percent of children with no parents in the labor force); and neighborhood characteristics (e.g., percent of children in neighborhoods where more than 35.2 percent of families are female-headed and where more than 18.6 percent of persons are in poverty). In every state on virtually every measure of wellbeing examined, African American children trailed non-Hispanic white children. (SM)