Creating Healthier Environments for Children to Thrive

Children are essential to the strength and resilience of communities nationwide, and their health and well-being reflect a range of factors, including health outcomes, behaviors, clinical care, physical environments and the social and economic conditions in which they live.

New America’s Health Rankings® data, published in the 2026 Health of Women and Children Report, illustrate a complex picture of children’s health and well-being over the past decade. The supply of pediatricians increased 18% between September 2019 and September 2025. Despite this improvement, several measures of children’s health and well-being remained unchanged or worsened. Between 2016-2017 and 2023-2024, physical activity among children ages 6-17 declined 14%. At the same time, the percentage of children receiving a well-child visit decreased 3% between 2016-2017 and 2023-2024.

Taken together, these trends reinforce an important point: Building a healthier future for children requires both access to care and attention to what happens between visits to health care providers.

The conditions children experience at school, home and in their communities influence how they put healthy behavior into practice. Access to nutritious foods

, opportunities to be physically active

and a strong foundation in health and physical education can all shape

children’s health and well-being.

That understanding has informed our work at Alliance for a Healthier Generation

for more than 20 years. We have learned that creating healthier environments does not necessarily require building something new. Often, it means embedding health into the places, routines and systems that already guide children’s days.

Health care providers can help children and families understand the behaviors and preventive care that support healthy development — and schools, youth-serving organizations and communities can help turn that guidance into everyday action. Through our work with schools and out-of-school programs, we help make healthy practices part of children’s daily experiences — from incorporating movement throughout the school day

and expanding opportunities for physical activity

to strengthening access to nutritious foods.

We also work to strengthen connections among schools, families and communities

so families can more easily navigate resources and children can receive consistent support for their health across the places where they live, learn and play.

The trends captured by America’s Health Rankings show the value in looking beyond any single factor shaping children’s health. These data, including state and local insights, can help identify where children are getting the support they need, where barriers persist and gaps remain.

Supporting lifelong health ultimately requires connecting what happens inside and outside the health care provider’s office.

America’s Health Rankings data show that children’s health behaviors, access to care and the conditions that support health and well-being vary across states and communities. Detailed geographic and demographic data can help health, academic and community leaders identify gaps and opportunities to create environments that support children’s health in their everyday lives.

Explore children’s health and well-being data in your state:

For more insights on the factors shaping children’s health, explore the 2026 Health of Women and Children Report and related America’s Health Rankings analyses on health care workforce and the social and economic conditions in which children live.