Santa Ana, Calif. (December 16, 2024) — This year’s Annual Report on the Conditions of Children in Orange County is now available. The report details the conditions of health, economic well-being, education and safety of Orange County’s children, giving insight into the ongoing efforts and progress in the conditions of our community’s youth.
Two areas of interest in this year’s report are the access to healthcare during pregnancy and the rise in kindergarten readiness.
Consistent prenatal care during pregnancy increases the potential for healthy pregnancies, resulting in full-term babies. In 2023, Orange County’s rate of pregnant people receiving early prenatal care was 90.2%, exceeding both state and national levels. Despite an increase in access to prenatal care over the last decade, Orange County is experiencing an increase in preterm births at 8.8% and low birth weights at a 7.4% rate. Both preterm and low birth weight infants face severe, lifelong risks such as developmental delays, serious illnesses and disabilities, and early death.
Over the last decade, the rate of children in Orange County who were developmentally ready for kindergarten has increased, measuring 53% in 2025. From 2015 to 2025, four out of five developmental areas showed improvement, with language and cognition increasing by 7 percentage points to 74.4%. Emotional maturity declined to 76.5% in 2025, the only area experiencing a decrease in the last decade.
The following areas have shown improvement in the lives of Orange County’s youth:
- Good Health: With the increase of access to behavioral health, emotional counseling among teens in Orange County has increased over the last decade. In 2024, 22.8% of youth ages 12-17 years reported receiving psychological/emotional counseling in the past year.
- Education: Over 50% of local high school graduates completed the course requirements to be eligible to apply to a University of California (UC) or California State University (CSU), beating the state average in college readiness.
- Economic Well-being: With a total of 84,842 licensed early childcare spaces in Orange County in 2024 -2025, numbers have increased over the last decade. Early care programs benefit all children, especially children from families with low incomes and dual language learners.
- Safe Homes and Communities: In 2022/23, 41% of Orange County foster children ages 0 to 18 years were placed in permanent homes within 12 months of entering foster care — an increase of 9.9 percentage points in the last decade. Permanent placement of foster children who cannot remain safely with their parents due to abuse and/or neglect reduces the instability that can lead to attachment disorders, poor educational outcomes and mental health and behavioral challenges.
Continued areas for improvement include insecure housing, racial and ethnic disparities, and child poverty, among others. Chronic absenteeism continues to decline from previous years, with the highest rates among students enrolled in Foster Youth and Homeless Youth.
Understanding the key factors affecting Orange County’s children paves the path for progress by boosting awareness and bettering our community for past and future generations.
To read the full report, visit https://www.ssa.ocgov.com/sites/ssa/files/2025-12/2025_12_31st_Annual_Conditions_Children_Report.pdf.