What is CWS?
The Child Wellness Survey (CWS) was administered to eligible Washington families with children aged 6 months to 5 years in 2024-2025. The survey explores how families are doing by asking about the health and development of their child, access to childcare, and other topics.
In addition to the 0–5 survey, families of 6–11-year-olds were invited to participate in a pilot survey to help us test new survey methods. Those results are not shared here but instead are being used to help the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) improve how we develop and distribute good surveys to elevate community voices.
Despite losing funding after this first administration, the CWS has offered rich insights into Washington’s young families.
2024-2025 Data Collection
Families could participate in the CWS in 1 of 2 ways:
- Randomly Selected Households: Eligible households with young children across the state were randomly selected. They were contacted by mail, email, and/or phone and encouraged to take the survey online. The survey could also be completed by phone. Those who were randomly selected to complete the survey also received a $20 gift card.
- All questions were voluntary. Respondents could resume, reschedule, or end the survey at any time.
- Community-Based Convenience Survey: This version of the survey was online only and was open to the public from mid-January through March 2025. Participation in this survey was encouraged but not compensated.
Topics
The 2024-2025 survey included questions about the following:
- Overall health of the child
- Breastfeeding
- Health care services
- Activities and childcare
- Issues in school
- Mental and emotional support
- Family, household, and neighborhood characteristics
- Demographic characteristics
- Vaccination
Geography and Representation
The CWS was designed to produce results that represent children in Washington state overall and within 8 geographic regions in addition to King County (see the below table). Race and ethnicity were also accounted for in the sampling and weighting methods for the survey.
| Region | Counties |
|---|---|
| Central Corridor (in teal color) | Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Okanogan |
| Clark (in blue) | Clark |
| Eastern Plains (in green) | Adams, Asotin, Benton, Columbia, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Walla Walla, Whitman |
| Northwest Waterway (in grey) | Clallam, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Whatcom |
| Pierce (in pink) | Pierce |
| Snohomish (in brown) | Snohomish |
| South Gorge (in purple) | Cowlitz, Klickitat, Lewis, Pacific, Skamania, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Yakima |
| Spokane (in yellow) | Spokane |
| King* (in white background with lines) | King |
*Note: King County residents were excluded from CWS in 2024-2025. Data from King County’s local version of this survey (called the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey) were added to the CWS data to allow for state-level estimates.
Survey Results
Compendium reports provide weighted estimates for most of the survey questions, stratified by key demographic factors.
Statewide - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Central Corridor Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Clark County Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Eastern Plains Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
King County Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Northwest Waterway Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Pierce County Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
South Gorge Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Spokane County Region - Child Wellness Survey 2024-2025, 0-5 Years (Excel)
Survey Resources
2024-2025 Child Wellness Survey Questions (PDF)
Data Dictionary (Excel) - Variable labels, names, and values for all questions asked to families with children aged 6 months to 5 years. Use this as a reference when looking at the data products.