Missouri Youth Falling In The Middle Of Those “Most At Risk” According to Wallethub

Youth in Missouri fall into the middle of the pack nationwide for those who are most at-risk of suffering from poverty, poor health conditions and violence.

That is the finding of WalletHub.com which places youth in Missouri at #24 in the study.

The study also found that 16-percent of individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 are neither working or attending school while 77-percent of young adults cannot join the military because they fail academic, moral or health qualifications.

The study also identifies New Jersey, New Hampshire and Massachusetts as states where youth fair the best in the study while West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana are at the other end of the spectrum.

See the Full Report:

With 16% 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 2023’s States with the Most At-Risk Youth, as well as 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 inflation, 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, New Mexico and Louisiana have the highest share of disconnected youth, 21.00 percent, which is three times higher than in North Dakota and New Hampshire, the lowest at 7.00 percent.
  
• New Mexico has the highest share of youth without a high school diploma, 16.00 percent, which is 2.3 times higher than in District of Columbia, the lowest at 7.00 percent. 
  
• West Virginia has the highest share of overweight or obese youth, 57.90 percent, which is 1.7 times higher than in Massachusetts, the lowest at 34.50 percent. 
  
• Arizona has the highest share of youth using drugs in the past month, 40.28 percent, which is 2.5 times higher than in Texas, the lowest at 16.29 percent. 
  
• District of Columbia has the highest share of homeless youth, 0.51 percent, which is 17 times higher than in Connecticut and Virginia, the lowest at 0.03 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