That such births are predominantly occurring in rural areas on those states. There are urban areas in those states. Also, "rate" can be deceiving, due to the relatively low numbers of people living in a rural location. A town of 500 people that had 3 unwed birth in a year would have a higher rate than a city of 5 million that had 29,000 unwed births. Rate alone does not necessarily tell us anything about the significance of a problem.
The 3 births in rural Arkansas might all be cared-for by relatives (they tend to do that). How many of the 29,000 in the large urban area could become neglected or abused? Especially among the urban poor, the prospects for negative outcomes for children is significant.
Finally, the stat referred to "white" unwed births. The highest rate (since you love "rate") of unwed births in the U.S. is among African American women, many of who are concentrated in large urban areas. So, discussion of rates does not even factor in non-white groups whose unwed birth rates tend to be higher than for the white population and who tend to be populate large urban areas.
While its true that statistics can deceive, proper analysis of statistics can reduce false conclusions.
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