2021’s States with the Most At-Risk Youth

With about one in nine young Americans today neither working nor in school, exposing them to greater risk of poverty and violence, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s States with the Most At-Risk Youth, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.

To determine where young Americans are not faring as well as others in their age group, especially in a year made extremely stressful by the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key indicators of youth risk. The data set ranges from the share of disconnected youth to the labor force participation rate among youth to the youth poverty rate.
  

Key Stats

• Alaska has the highest share of disconnected youth, 18.00 percent, which is three times higher than in North Dakota and Vermont, the lowest at 6.00 percent.
   
• New Mexico has the highest share of youth without a high school diploma, 16.70 percent, which is 2.3 times higher than in Hawaii, the lowest at 7.30 percent
   
• Kentucky has the highest share of overweight or obese youth, 57.10 percent, which is 1.8 times higher than in the District of Columbia, the lowest at 30.90 percent
   
• Vermont has the highest share of youth using drugs in the past month, 39.70 percent, which is 2.5 times higher than in South Dakota, the lowest at 15.90 percent
   
• Oregon has the highest share of homeless youth, 0.36 percent, which is 18 times higher than in Mississippi, the lowest at 0.02 percent.

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-most-at-risk-youth/37280