CT next to last for at-risk youth, in a good way

Nationally 12.6% of Americans ages 16 to 24 are at-risk compared to 9.7% of Connecticut youth. Connecticut does better than all states but Massachusetts in protecting our youth from harmful conditions such as poor health, neither working nor in school, or drug use. WalletHub compared youth between states on 16 measures of risk including homelessness, overweight or obesity, missing a high school diploma, and drug use. The ranking is based on data from A Disrupted Year from Measure for America/Social Science Research Council. These conditions put youth at risk of future problems such as poverty, early pregnancy, and violence as adults. Still, 41,700 youth in Connecticut are at-risk for harms. Black and Latino youth are at higher risk than whites.

Not surprisingly, among Connecticut communities, urban centers had the highest rates of at-risk youth and wealthy towns the lowest. But there are surprises in some suburban and rural communities.