With 12.6% of young Americans neither working nor in school, exposing them to greater risk of poverty and violence, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s States with the Most At-Risk Youth.
To determine where young Americans are not faring as well as others in their age group, especially in a year made extremely stressful by inflation and the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 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.
States with the Most Idle Youth
Overall Rank* | State | Total Score | Education & Employment | Health |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Louisiana | 76.21 | 1 | 1 |
2 | Mississippi | 71.97 | 2 | 5 |
3 | Alabama | 66.29 | 6 | 4 |
4 | West Virginia | 65.57 | 5 | 12 |
5 | Wyoming | 63.60 | 13 | 2 |
6 | Arkansas | 63.54 | 7 | 10 |
7 | South Carolina | 62.81 | 9 | 11 |
8 | Oklahoma | 60.20 | 11 | 16 |
9 | Kentucky | 58.60 | 15 | 9 |
10 | District of Columbia | 58.21 | 3 | 34 |
11 | Alaska | 56.41 | 8 | 32 |
12 | Nevada | 56.13 | 10 | 24 |
13 | Tennessee | 55.32 | 24 | 3 |
14 | Montana | 54.36 | 19 | 6 |
15 | Idaho | 54.20 | 18 | 8 |
16 | South Dakota | 53.90 | 12 | 31 |
17 | Georgia | 53.80 | 14 | 22 |
18 | New Mexico | 53.30 | 4 | 45 |
19 | Indiana | 51.98 | 23 | 13 |
20 | Missouri | 51.75 | 22 | 14 |
21 | Texas | 50.29 | 16 | 26 |
22 | Oregon | 49.37 | 17 | 29 |
23 | Ohio | 48.89 | 31 | 15 |
24 | Michigan | 48.64 | 27 | 19 |
25 | Arizona | 47.41 | 20 | 28 |
26 | North Carolina | 46.94 | 26 | 21 |
27 | Kansas | 44.80 | 37 | 18 |
28 | North Dakota | 44.61 | 42 | 7 |
29 | Wisconsin | 44.19 | 39 | 17 |
30 | Florida | 43.39 | 21 | 37 |
31 | Colorado | 42.33 | 29 | 33 |
32 | Illinois | 42.20 | 35 | 23 |
33 | Iowa | 41.71 | 40 | 20 |
34 | Nebraska | 41.48 | 34 | 30 |
35 | California | 40.01 | 25 | 43 |
36 | Delaware | 39.45 | 30 | 41 |
37 | Washington | 38.74 | 33 | 39 |
38 | Pennsylvania | 37.33 | 36 | 38 |
39 | New York | 37.32 | 28 | 48 |
40 | Utah | 36.42 | 38 | 36 |
41 | Maine | 33.36 | 43 | 40 |
42 | Minnesota | 32.08 | 46 | 35 |
43 | Hawaii | 31.52 | 32 | 51 |
44 | Virginia | 31.29 | 45 | 42 |
45 | Vermont | 31.18 | 48 | 25 |
46 | Rhode Island | 30.25 | 44 | 44 |
47 | Maryland | 29.11 | 41 | 50 |
48 | New Jersey | 25.98 | 47 | 49 |
49 | New Hampshire | 25.50 | 51 | 27 |
50 | Connecticut | 22.81 | 49 | 46 |
51 | Massachusetts | 20.76 | 50 | 47 |
Note: *1 = Most at Risk
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/