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States with the Most At-Risk Youth

States with the Most At-Risk Youth

WalletHub

By Adam McCann, Financial Writer

July 18, 2018

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, about one in nine individuals 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 than 70 percent of young adults today are ineligible to join the U.S. military because they fail academic, moral or health qualifications. Research shows 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.

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 14 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.

  1. Main Findings
  2. Share Of Disconnected Youth Over Time
  3. Ask The Experts
  4. Methodology

 

States with the Most Idle Youth

Overall Rank
(1 = Most at Risk)		 State Total Score Overall Rank
(1 = Most at Risk)		 State Total Score
1 District of Columbia 71.00 27 South Dakota 45.16
2 Louisiana 66.80 28 Pennsylvania 43.61
3 Mississippi 61.85 29 New York 43.45
4 Nevada 61.05 30 Illinois 43.19
5 West Virginia 60.38 31 Hawaii 43.16
6 Arkansas 60.30 32 Maine 43.10
7 Delaware 56.70 33 Texas 41.35
8 Oregon 55.89 34 Indiana 41.19
9 Alabama 55.39 35 Florida 40.75
10 New Mexico 55.10 36 North Carolina 40.22
11 Alaska 53.15 37 Nebraska 39.84
12 Wyoming 52.59 38 Rhode Island 39.14
13 Michigan 52.31 39 Arizona 38.57
14 Washington 52.16 40 Wisconsin 37.67
15 South Carolina 50.92 41 Virginia 35.81
16 California 50.90 42 Kansas 35.34
17 Idaho 50.74 43 Iowa 35.12
18 Montana 49.57 44 North Dakota 34.29
19 Tennessee 49.44 45 Utah 33.18
20 Vermont 48.72 46 Massachusetts 32.20
21 Oklahoma 48.51 47 Minnesota 31.63
22 Ohio 48.01 48 Connecticut 30.21
23 Missouri 47.39 49 Maryland 30.06
24 Georgia 47.36 50 New Hampshire 29.60
25 Kentucky 46.81 51 New Jersey 28.71
26 Colorado 46.68

 

Ask the Experts

Idleness and social disconnection are among the biggest problems for at-risk youths today. For advice on overcoming these challenges, we asked a panel of experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

  1. What can state and local policymakers do to reduce the number of rural youth who are disconnected from school and work?
  2. What is driving the higher levels of “idleness” among minority youth?
  3. What tips/advices you have for parents who have an adolescent who is disconnected — that is, dropping out of school and not looking for work? Where should they look for help?
  4. Do you believe that the economic policies enacted thus far by the Trump administration will increase or decrease the number of idle youth?

Methodology

In order to determine where young Americans are most at risk of adverse outcomes in adulthood, WalletHub compared a sample comprising the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 key metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of youth risk.

Finally, we determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

  • Share of Disconnected Youth: Double Weight (~13.33 Points)
    Note: “Disconnected Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 who are not attending school, not working and have no degree beyond a high school diploma.
  • Share of Youth with No High School Diploma: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Share of NAEP-Proficient Students: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “NAEP-Proficient Students” refers to those who performed at or above the 8th grade math and 8th grade reading proficiency levels of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments.
  • Share of Overweight & Obese Youth: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Share of Youth Using Illicit Drugs in Past Year: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 25.
  • Share of Youth Reporting Heavy Drinking: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Share of Youth with Depression: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Share of Physically, Mentally & Emotionally Inhibited Youth: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 who are limited in any activities due to physical, mental and emotional problems.
  • Labor Force Participation Rate Among Youth: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 16 to 24.
  • Share of AFQT Testers Scoring Above 50: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “AFQT Testers” refers to civilians who completed the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), which covers four sections — Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning and Mathematics Knowledge — of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to assess a potential recruit’s military trainability and ability to enlist. The resulting score is a percentile, rather than an absolute, and indicates the recruit’s performance relative to 18- to 23-year-old civilians who completed the exam in 1997 as part of a norming study. The lower a tester’s score, the poorer is his or her trainability.
  • Youth Poverty Rate: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Share of Homeless Youth: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24.
  • Presence of “State Tuition Waiver Programs” for Youth in Foster Care: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  • Rate of Youth Detained, Incarcerated or Placed in Residential Facilities per 100,000: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
    Note: Persons under age 21 detained, incarcerated, or placed in residential facilities.

 
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