National Trends

In 2023, the national opportunity score was 51.9 out of a possible 100 (see Figure 1). This represents a decrease of 1.3 points—down 2.4 percent from 53.2 at the last public Opportunity Index report, which presented findings from the 2019 Index. The decrease was driven by declines in the Health (-8.8 points) and Education (-2.1 points) dimensions. Increases in the Economy dimension (2.4 points) and the Community dimension (3.4 points) over the same period (2019-2023) attenuated the overall decline in the national opportunity score. Substantial declines in the Health dimension are largely responsible for the decrease in overall opportunity: This dimension has declined consistently year-over-year since its peak of 55.5 in 2017 (data from 2015). It reached its lowest level of 43.2 in 2023 (data from 2021).

Historically and currently, Opportunity in the United States in not been equally distributed. Disparities across the various dimensions of Opportunity stem from inequities embedded in systems that shape Opportunity from their inception.

Across the 11 indicators we examined, Asian and White people had the most systemic access to opportunity in 2023. Broadly, Asian and White people in the United States exist within unique sociocultural, sociopolitical, and historical contexts that positively influence their access to opportunity and subsequent long-term outcomes—as measured by our select group of indicators—in comparison to people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Black and Latino families face higher maternal and infant mortality and have less access to quality education, health, housing and jobs that can sustain families.

In the 2023 Opportunity Index Brief, we further explore racial and ethnic disparities in Index indicators at a national level.