Here’s How Walton and Okaloosa Ranked for Child Well Being:

Looking at the Data

The Florida Policy Institute took those 16 categories and grouped them into six overall supergroups, for lack of a better term. Okaloosa and Walton varied widely in those groups, with Okaloosa doing better in three groups and Walton taking the other two categories.

Walton County did better regarding food security for children, ranking 11th, and Okaloosa County ranked 17th overall. Walton County reported 16.3% of their children were food insecure, and Okaloosa County reported about 17 1/2% of their children with food insecurity.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as not having enough food at all times for an active, healthy lifestyle.

Okaloosa County did better than Walton County in terms of economic well-being, rating it at 12th place, thanks to its child poverty rate decreasing from 16.4% in 2017 to 12.6% in 2022. Walton County also saw its child poverty rate decrease dramatically, from 27% in 2017 to 17.9% in 2022. Still, Walton’s poverty rate remained well above Okaloosas.

As we’ve covered in the last couple months here at Mid Bay News, Walton County has seen its schools shoot up the state rankings for achievement over the previous decade. The Florida Policy Institute ranked their education situation as the best in the state. Okaloosa County had the 13th-best education ranking.

However, Walton County’s health rating was abysmal compared to Okaloosa counties. The Florida Policy Institute ranked them in the bottom quartile at 45th of 67 counties. It was by far the place where Walton County lagged Okaloosa the most. Okaloosa County finished in third place among all counties in Florida. Okaloosa County has the lowest obesity rate of all Florida counties, except Saint Johns County, near Jacksonville.

Finally, Okaloosa and WALTON counties scored near the middle of the pack for the grouping labeled family and community. Okaloosa County came in 27th and WALTON in 36th. Those categories included children and single parents, families, children in high-poverty areas, children with verified maltreatment, and youth contacts with the juvenile justice system.

List of Categories Florida Policy Institute Uses to Rack and Stack Counties for Child Welfare.

The Florida Policy Institute uses 16 different categories along a breadth of socioeconomic indicators to determine whether or not a county is doing better or worse in taking care of its children. They are:

• Childhood insecurity
• Children in poverty
• Unemployment rate
• High housing cost burden (where a family will spend more than 30% of their total monthly income on housing)
• Teens Not in school and not working
• Three and four-year-olds not enrolled in school
• Fourth-grade students not proficient in English language arts
• Eighth-grade students not proficient in math
• High school students not graduating on time
• Low birthweight babies
• Uninsured children, overweight and obese first, third, and sixth grade students
• High school teens to use alcohol or drugs in the past 30 days
• Children in single parent families
• Children and high-poverty areas
• Children with verified maltreatment
• Youth Contacts with the Juvenile Justice System

You can see all the data sets for all of these categories here.