North Dakota’s Youth Are Most Likely to Succeed of Any State
According to our friends at WalletHub, North Dakota's youth currently shows the most promise of any in the country.
The official name of WalletHub's study is "States with the Most At-Risk Youth." On a list of all 50 states, and with the addition of Washington, D.C, North Dakota finished 51st on the list which means our state has the least at-risk youth, and therefore, are more likely to succeed than the youth from any other state in the country.
The 'youth' within the study are considered young adults, ages 16 to 25. To determine the results from each state, six key factors were used. These factors were measured as percentages of the following in each state: disconnected youth (not attending school, not working, and no degree beyond a high school diploma), youth without a high school diploma, overweight and obese youth, youth drug users, youth poverty rate, and homeless youth.
A few of the determining categories where North Dakota especially excelled in were 'lowest percentage of disconnected youth' (48th), 'lowest percentage of youth without a high school diploma' (50th), and 'lowest percentage of youth drug users' (48th). Keep in mind, the higher they are in ranking for each of those lists, the more positive of a statistic that is for North Dakota youth overall.
Following North Dakota in the overall rankings were Utah, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Minnesota, respectively to round out the top five that have the least at-risk youth in the U.S.
The states with the most at-risk youth are West Virginia, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi taking the top spot.
You can view the map of all 50 states, along with Washington, D.C., below.