- March 31, 2026
- By Emily Schuster
The greatest gaps in investments in U.S. children’s education, health and well-being occur not during school, but before kids enter kindergarten, according to a new University of Maryland study.
And while universal K-12 public education helps even out the dollar amounts spent across racial, ethnic and household income groups, the researchers discovered that new disparities emerge after age 5 as different groups of kids receive different kinds of resources—such as afterschool, extracurricular and enrichment programs vs. in-school tutoring.
“Early childhood is a time at which we’ve underinvested in kids, and it’s a time when investments in kids really matter for long-run outcomes,” said David Blazar, lead author and associate professor of education policy and economics at UMD, noting that the U.S. spends far less on young children than other countries with similar economies.
The study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, estimated a $502,152 total investment per child in the U.S., based on 10 nationally representative datasets collected between 2010 and 2023, representing 1.2 million observations. It included public, private and family time investments in children through age 18 in 10 areas: child care, clothing, formal education, informal educational experiences, college preparation, health care, nutrition, exercise, housing and transportation. Within these 10 areas, the team examined disparities in 77 highly specific investments, such as whole fruit vs. fruit juice, or preventative health services vs. emergency room care.
Past studies about investments in children usually focused on specific categories like housing or health care and different stages of childhood, according to Blazar. In contrast, the new study examined investments in multiple categories and stages from birth to age 18 and placed dollar amounts on all investments to help make comparisons easy to understand.
“Childhood experiences don't occur in silos,” said Blazar. “We're piecing together a complete story of the youth experience.”
The comprehensive study quantifies disparities in the investments made in the health, development and well-being of children from different backgrounds, said Jennifer King Rice, senior vice president and provost, professor of education policy and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, who collaborated with Blazar on the study.
“The findings reveal differences in the amount spent as well as in the types of resources that children from different backgrounds receive, providing valuable information that can help policymakers direct resources in ways that lead to more equitable life opportunities, benefitting both individuals and society,” she said.
The cross-disciplinary UMD team also included Michel Boudreaux, associate professor of health policy and management; Steven Klees, professor of international education policy and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher; Marvin Titus, associate professor emeritus of higher education; and Jiehui Zhao, a Ph.D. candidate in education policy and leadership.
The researchers used an “ingredients approach” to identify resources and assign dollar amounts to various types of investments—including parents’ time, wages for teachers and tutors, materials and fees.
According to the team’s calculations, children from the lowest-income households received about 15% less ($86,000) in total investments than children from the highest-income households. Hispanic, Black, and Asian American and Pacific Islander children received 6-14% less than white children. Families of all backgrounds spent large amounts of time with their kids, which helped to fill in the gaps in investments from other sources.
The greatest disparities emerged in early childhood, when Black and Hispanic children and those from lower-income households received 20-25% less investment than white and higher-income children. The largest drivers of these disparities were housing and child care, with gaps upwards of 60%. For example, children from higher-income households received about $15,000 more in child care investments before age 5 than children from lower-income households.
Gaps begin to narrow at age 5, corresponding to the age when 90% of children enter universally provided, free public K-12 education. For example, the disparity in investments between Black and white children in early childhood is double the investment gap after age 5. However, the researchers pointed out that despite receiving more similar dollar amounts after age 5, the types of resources kids get across racial, ethnic and income groups are very different.
The team found that groups with fewer resources in early childhood received more interventions later. For example, lower-income, Black and Hispanic children were more likely to receive school-based tutoring and special education services often meant to remediate lagging academic progress, a likely result of underinvestment in early childhood.
The researchers uncovered similar patterns in health services. Higher-income and white children were more likely to get preventative care including office visits, glasses and dental care, while lower-income, Black and Hispanic children were more likely to close the total spending gap by receiving more expensive care in hospital emergency departments.
“We need to pay attention to not just how much we're spending, but how we're spending in ways that create equitable, quality experiences for youth,” said Blazar. “Our research calls attention to the important role that public social safety net programs can provide for reducing inequality. Our study suggests that more universal programming would go a long way in reducing the large disparities that we document.”