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The State of the Need

Aging out of foster care in America

Every year, thousands of young people reach eighteen while still in foster care and leave without a family to return to. What the evidence shows happens next — measured nationally, sourced and dated throughout — is the case for giving them more time, not less.

The scale, nationally

A system built to protect children quietly stops at eighteen.

343,077

children were in U.S. foster care as of September 30, 2023, per the Children's Bureau's FY2023 AFCARS data.

~15,590

youth aged out of foster care in FY2023 — about 8% of all exits that year — per federal AFCARS data reported by The Imprint and the Annie E. Casey Foundation (2025). The figure reflects secondary analysis of federal AFCARS data.

20,000+

was the more typical annual number a decade earlier — meaning the population aging out has shrunk, even as each young person still leaves largely on their own. (AECF, 2025)

Aging out means reaching adulthood while still in the system, with no reunification, adoption, or guardianship arranged — and stepping into independence without the family a young adult can usually still call.

What the evidence shows, by 21 and by 26

The years right after aging out are measurably harder — across nearly every marker.

Education

By their mid-20s, an estimated 69–85% of young adults with foster-care experience hold a high school credential, against roughly 95% nationally; only about 8–12% earn a college degree, against roughly 49% nationally. (AECF, citing a 2025 review in AERA Open) These are ranges from a research review, not a single count.

Employment & earnings

Only 56% of youth still in care at 17 were employed at 21. By 26, former foster youth show roughly 50% lower earnings and about 20% lower employment than their peers. (KIDS COUNT via AECF; Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2022)

Early parenthood

22% of youth in care at 17 had a child within two years — by 21 — compared with about 5% of all young adults aged 18–24. (KIDS COUNT Data Center)

Housing and safety follow the same pattern. One in four youth in care at 17 had experienced homelessness in the two years before being surveyed at 21. (KIDS COUNT Data Center) Contact with the justice system runs unusually high, too: more than 30% of youth who exited care at 17 or older had already spent time in a correctional facility by 17, and over 40% were incarcerated by 20, according to a 2025 study in Child Abuse & Neglect cited by AECF — a single study, not a settled national figure. Separately, 17% of U.S. state and federal prisoners report having spent time in foster care as children, per a standing 2016 Bureau of Justice Statistics figure. (BJS, 2016)

None of this is destiny. It is what tends to happen when a young person crosses into adulthood without the family, the cosigner, the couch to crash on, or the phone call home that most young adults can still make. The gap is one of support, not of character.

What helps

More time, not just more services, is what the evidence points to.

The clearest lever states have pulled is a simple one: keep the support running longer. Extending foster care to age 21, rather than cutting it off at 18, has been shown to return roughly $2 in benefit to youth and society for every $1 it costs government — mainly through higher educational attainment and higher lifetime earnings. (Chapin Hall, University of Chicago, 2009)

Set against that return is the cost of not extending it. A widely cited 2013 estimate put the price of aging out at roughly $300,000 in public cost per young person over a lifetime — around $8 billion a year nationally — in reduced earnings, greater reliance on public assistance, and more involvement with the corrections system. (Annie E. Casey Foundation / Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, 2013) That figure is now more than a decade old and should be read as a dated, order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a current number — but the direction it points has not been overturned since: a young adult given more time tends to cost the public less, not more.

What this means

The number that matters most here is the one about time.

Every figure on this page points back to the same gap: a young person is asked to become a fully independent adult on a birthday, without the runway most young adults are quietly given by a family. Extending support — a year, specifically, in a stable home — is not an add-on to that story; the evidence above says it is close to the whole intervention.

Texas carries its own version of this need — see how the picture looks specifically in Texas — and foster care is one of several roads that lead directly into the wider crisis pipeline Mercy Manor exists to interrupt. If you or someone you know aged out of care and needs help now, start here. For the fuller picture across every population Mercy Manor serves, see the state of the need, and for the fuller evidence on why a full year specifically works, see why a year.

About $6,000 funds a woman's entire year at Mercy Manor; $500 a month covers one woman's room, food, counseling, and case management — the runway a young person aging out was never given.

Give a year of runway
Sources & methodology

Every figure on this page, and where it came from

Last reviewed: July 2026. Every figure is dated and linked to its source; we refresh as new data publishes.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

How many young people age out of foster care in the U.S. each year?

About 15,590 youth aged out of foster care in FY2023 — roughly 8% of all foster care exits that year — per federal AFCARS data reported by The Imprint and the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2025. That is down from a more typical annual figure above 20,000 a decade earlier. The FY2023 number reflects secondary analysis of federal data rather than a raw government headline count.

What happens to young people's education and employment after they age out?

By their mid-20s, an estimated 69–85% of young adults with foster-care experience hold a high school credential (versus about 95% nationally), and only 8–12% earn a college degree (versus about 49% nationally), per a 2025 research review cited by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. On employment, only 56% of youth in care at 17 were employed at 21, and by 26 former foster youth show roughly 50% lower earnings and about 20% lower employment than their peers.

How common is homelessness and incarceration among youth who age out?

One in four youth in care at 17 had experienced homelessness in the two years before being surveyed at 21, per the KIDS COUNT Data Center. More than 30% of youth who exited care at 17 or older had spent time in a correctional facility by 17, and over 40% were incarcerated by 20, according to a 2025 study in Child Abuse & Neglect — a single study rather than a settled national figure. Separately, 17% of U.S. state and federal prisoners report having spent time in foster care, per a 2016 Bureau of Justice Statistics figure.

Does extending foster care past 18 actually help, and is it worth the cost?

Yes, according to the leading cost-benefit research. Extending foster care to age 21 returns roughly $2 in benefit to youth and society for every $1 in government cost, mainly through higher educational attainment and earnings, per a 2009 Chapin Hall study at the University of Chicago. Set against that, a widely cited but now-dated 2013 estimate put the cost of aging out at roughly $300,000 per youth over a lifetime — about $8 billion a year nationally — a figure that should be read as an order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a current number.