Growing up can be hard. Without a stable home, positive role models and tools for success, many young Americans fall behind their peers and experience a rocky transition to adulthood. Today, aboutone in nineindividuals between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither working nor attending school. Others suffer from poor health conditions that hinder their ability to develop physically or socially.
Such issues not only affect young people later in life, but they also prove harmful to society as a whole. For instance, more than70 percent of young adultstoday are ineligible to join the U.S. military because they fail academic, moral or health qualifications.Researchshows that when youth grow up in environments with economic problems and a lack of role models, they’re more at risk for poverty, early pregnancy and violence, especially in adulthood. The environment is even more difficult for these young Americans in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the job market, caused schools to be held online and kept people far more isolated than usual. The pandemic is also a cause ofsevere stress, and some youth may not have anyone to turn to for support.
To determine the places where young Americans are not faring as well as others in the same age group, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 key indicators of youth risk. Our data set ranges from share of disconnected youth to labor force participation rate among youth to youth poverty rate. Read on for our findings, insight into the future of America's young population and a full description of our methodology.
1MAIN FINDINGS2SHARE OF DISCONNECTED YOUTH OVER TIME
Main Findings
115151
States with the Most Idle Youth
Overall Rank
(1=Most at Risk)
State
Total Score
‘Education & Employment’ Rank
‘Health’ Rank
1
Louisiana
66.19
1
32
2
District of Columbia
66.10
6
5
3
Arkansas
62.54
3
29
4
Alaska
61.40
4
26
5
Mississippi
60.75
2
49
6
New Mexico
60.14
7
22
7
Alabama
59.17
5
40
8
Nevada
58.64
9
27
9
West Virginia
56.87
8
41
10
Oregon
55.95
17
1
11
Wyoming
54.73
12
23
12
South Carolina
54.11
11
28
13
Indiana
52.19
19
7
14
Georgia
51.79
10
45
15
Delaware
50.82
21
11
16
Ohio
50.26
20
18
17
Montana
50.22
24
14
18
South Dakota
49.64
16
30
19
Oklahoma
49.38
13
42
20
Idaho
48.37
14
48
21
Michigan
48.28
33
4
22
Colorado
47.91
29
12
23
Kentucky
47.77
18
34
24
Texas
47.74
15
46
25
Missouri
47.72
27
17
26
Arizona
47.05
23
33
27
Washington
46.57
31
13
28
Florida
45.95
26
36
29
Tennessee
45.61
25
37
30
California
44.65
22
50
31
Pennsylvania
43.95
30
31
32
New York
43.67
35
24
33
North Carolina
42.79
32
35
34
Maine
42.73
45
2
35
Hawaii
42.33
28
47
36
Connecticut
42.10
40
8
37
Vermont
42.10
41
6
38
Illinois
41.85
36
16
39
Nebraska
41.51
34
38
40
Wisconsin
41.09
39
15
41
Maryland
40.02
38
21
42
Virginia
39.55
43
19
43
Iowa
37.94
44
20
44
Kansas
37.39
37
39
45
Rhode Island
36.51
48
10
46
North Dakota
35.53
42
43
47
Minnesota
35.01
47
25
48
New Hampshire
33.02
51
3
49
Massachusetts
33.01
50
9
50
New Jersey
28.90
46
51
51
Utah
28.09
49
44
SOURCE: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-most-at-risk-youth/37280/