Who Are Opportunity (Disconnected) Youth?

The KIDS COUNT^® Data Cen­ter, which tracks trends among youth ages 16 to 19, indi­cates that 7% of the nation’s old­er teens — more than 1.2 mil­lion young peo­ple — are nei­ther work­ing nor in school, accord­ing to the lat­est data from 2024. While nation­al rates have improved since a peak of 9% in the pre­vi­ous decade, more than a mil­lion old­er teens remain dis­con­nect­ed, with sub­stan­tial dif­fer­ences across states and demo­graph­ic groups. These teens are some­times called ​“dis­con­nect­ed youth,” but the term ​“oppor­tu­ni­ty youth” is increas­ing­ly pre­ferred, as it reflects their poten­tial to thrive when giv­en access to the right supports.

Many lead­ing orga­ni­za­tions include ages 16 up to 24 when defin­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty youth, rec­og­niz­ing that ado­les­cent devel­op­ment con­tin­ues into young adult­hood. When ages 20 to 24 are includ­ed, an addi­tion­al three mil­lion young adults are dis­con­nect­ed from work and school, under­scor­ing the need to ensure youth are well-sup­port­ed before they reach adulthood.

Oppor­tu­ni­ty youth often come from com­mu­ni­ties with high­er lev­els of pover­ty or lim­it­ed resources. Many have dis­abil­i­ties or have expe­ri­enced home­less­ness, child wel­fare involve­ment or con­tact with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem. Youth of col­or are also dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly rep­re­sent­ed in this group. It is essen­tial to under­stand how you mea­sure dis­con­nect­ed youth, as con­sis­tent def­i­n­i­tions and data help states and com­mu­ni­ties iden­ti­fy gaps and ensure that young peo­ple receive mean­ing­ful path­ways to edu­ca­tion and employ­ment. (The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter pro­vides def­i­n­i­tion and source details on every data page.)

Why Focus on Oppor­tu­ni­ty Youth?

When com­pared to peers who are in school or work­ing, oppor­tu­ni­ty youth are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence a range of chal­lenges in adult­hood, such as employ­ment dif­fi­cul­ties, low incomes and poor phys­i­cal and men­tal health. Con­verse­ly, youth who stay engaged with edu­ca­tion and employ­ment gain expe­ri­ence and qual­i­fi­ca­tions to obtain good jobs, earn­ings, health care and oth­er resources. Sta­ble, car­ing rela­tion­ships with adults are also key to help­ing young peo­ple nav­i­gate the hur­dles of school, work, finances and life as they tran­si­tion to adulthood.

The eco­nom­ic effects of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth extend to soci­ety as a whole. For exam­ple, a sin­gle per­son who is dis­con­nect­ed dur­ing their youth can lead to $1 mil­lion in soci­etal costs due to lost wages, tax rev­enues and oth­er issues.

Sys­temic inequities — such as unequal access to qual­i­ty schools, safe hous­ing and com­mu­ni­ty resources — con­tribute to youth dis­con­nec­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly among young peo­ple in under-resourced com­mu­ni­ties. Pre­ven­tion efforts to sup­port chil­dren before they are strug­gling and ear­ly inter­ven­tion pro­grams that pro­vide men­tor­ing, train­ing and wrap­around sup­ports can help pre­vent dis­con­nec­tion and keep young peo­ple on path­ways to edu­ca­tion and employment.

Track­ing trends relat­ed to oppor­tu­ni­ty youth pro­vides infor­ma­tion on how the nation is far­ing and which loca­tions across the coun­try are pro­vid­ing equi­table access to edu­ca­tion and employ­ment opportunities.

What Are the Caus­es of Youth Disconnection?

Sev­er­al fac­tors con­tribute to youth dis­con­nec­tion, and under­stand­ing these root caus­es can help com­mu­ni­ties bet­ter sup­port young peo­ple.
Exam­ples of such fac­tors include:

• Lim­it­ed access to qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion: Unequal school fund­ing, trans­porta­tion bar­ri­ers and few­er advanced learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties can con­tribute to youth dis­con­nec­tion by reduc­ing stu­dents’ abil­i­ty to stay engaged and on track toward graduation.
• Eco­nom­ic hard­ship and neigh­bor­hood con­di­tions: High­er lev­els of pover­ty, unsta­ble hous­ing and lim­it­ed local job options make it hard­er for young peo­ple to secure employ­ment or remain in school, increas­ing the risk of disconnection.
• Health and men­tal health chal­lenges: Dis­abil­i­ties, includ­ing phys­i­cal, men­tal or cog­ni­tive health con­di­tions or relat­ed needs — includ­ing stress and trau­ma — can inter­fere with atten­dance, learn­ing and employ­ment, lead­ing some youth to lose con­nec­tions to school and work, espe­cial­ly if these issues go unaddressed.
• Child wel­fare or juve­nile jus­tice involve­ment: Young peo­ple involved in these sys­tems often expe­ri­ence dis­rupt­ed school­ing and few­er tran­si­tion sup­ports, which can con­tribute to youth disconnection.
• Lack of sup­port­ive adult rela­tion­ships: When youth do not have sta­ble, car­ing adults to help them nav­i­gate school, work and life tran­si­tions, they face greater bar­ri­ers to stay­ing con­nect­ed to opportunity.

A large body of lit­er­a­ture describes addi­tion­al fac­tors that may con­tribute to youth dis­con­nec­tion, includ­ing labor mar­ket trends, cul­tur­al shifts, struc­tur­al forces, young par­ent­hood and more. How­ev­er, more research is need­ed to ful­ly under­stand the root caus­es of this issue.

Oppor­tu­ni­ty Youth in Amer­i­ca: Data and Trends

The share of U.S. teens ages 16 to 19 who are not work­ing or in school has remained fair­ly steady, around 7%, over the last decade. How­ev­er, this still means that more than one mil­lion teenagers remain detached from school and work and need sup­port in order to re-engage in these set­tings. This is in addi­tion to three mil­lion young adults ages 20 to 24 who are dis­con­nect­ed from edu­ca­tion and employ­ment, as well.

At the same time, the share of unem­ployed teens ages 16 to 19 improved dur­ing much of the last decade, drop­ping from 71% in 2014 to 64% in 2022 — since then, how­ev­er, this rate inched up to 66% by 2024. The progress through 2022 sug­gests that youth had been increas­ing­ly engaged in the work­force, but the lat­est data indi­cate this trend may be reversing. 

For more than two decades, the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter has also tracked U.S. teens ages 16 to 19 who are nei­ther in school nor high school grad­u­ates, called the ​“sta­tus dropout rate.” This mea­sure reveals a pos­i­tive long-term trend, with the sta­tus dropout rate falling from 11% in 2000 to 4% in 2012 and hold­ing steady at that lev­el through 2024.

While these trends present a mixed pic­ture, one find­ing is clear: a con­sis­tent­ly large group of teens con­tin­ue to need sup­port re-engag­ing in school and work path­ways. The over­all find­ings also mask sub­stan­tial dis­par­i­ties by geog­ra­phy and race.

Oppor­tu­ni­ty Youth Stats by Region, State, Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict and City

Rates of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth vary across the coun­try, with high­er lev­els in rur­al West­ern states and parts of the South and low­er rates across much of the North­east and Mid­west, accord­ing to the lat­est data. Youth in his­tor­i­cal­ly mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties also expe­ri­ence high­er dis­con­nect­ed rates due to lim­it­ed access to qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, trans­porta­tion and oth­er sup­port­ive resources, as described above.

Region­al Snap­shot (Ages 16–19, 2024)

• By state: Data at the state lev­el show wide vari­a­tion, with some states expe­ri­enc­ing more than dou­ble the dis­con­nec­tion rates of oth­ers. In 2024, the high­est per­cent­ages of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth were found in Alas­ka (11%), Mis­sis­sip­pi and Neva­da (both 10%). Mass­a­chu­setts had the low­est share of teens nei­ther in school nor work­ing that year, at 3%. Between 2023 and 2024, this rate improved in 12 states and wors­ened in 16.

Teens Ages 16 to 19 Not Attend­ing School and Not Work­ing (Per­cent) 2024

Full state-by-state dis­con­nect­ed youth data are avail­able through the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter.

• By U.S. con­gres­sion­al dis­trict: Two con­gres­sion­al dis­tricts in the West and upper Mid­west had the high­est shares of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth in 2024. More than 1 in 6 (17%) old­er teens were dis­en­gaged from both work and school in Michigan’s Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict 13 (includ­ing parts of Detroit and its sub­urbs), and the same was true for more than 1 in 7 youth (15%) in California’s Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict 22 (in the San Joaquin Val­ley). The con­gres­sion­al dis­tricts with the low­est shares of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth in 2024 — just 2% of teens — were in Illi­nois’ Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict 8 (just north­west of Chica­go), North Carolina’s Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict 4 (cen­tral state, includ­ing Durham) and Minnesota’s Con­gres­sion­al Dis­tricts 2 and 6 (south­east region, near the Twin Cities).
• By city: Among the 50 most pop­u­lous U.S. cities with avail­able data in 2024, the great­est share of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth were in Bak­ers­field, Cal­i­for­nia and Mem­phis, Ten­nessee (both 14%). The cities with the low­est shares of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth that year were also in Cal­i­for­nia: San Jose and San Diego (both 3%).

Endur­ing Inequities for Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native, Lati­no and Black Youth

The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter has tracked oppor­tu­ni­ty youth by race and eth­nic­i­ty for 15 years, from 2008 to 2023 (the most recent year on the site). Over this time frame, Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native, Black and Lati­no teens con­sis­tent­ly had high­er rates of dis­con­nec­tion from school and work when com­pared to teens nation­wide. One in 10 Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native youth across the coun­try were nei­ther work­ing nor in school in 2023. Native Hawai­ian and oth­er Pacif­ic Islander teens and young adults are also dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly rep­re­sent­ed among oppor­tu­ni­ty youth.

Sim­i­lar­ly, in over two decades from 2000 to 2023, the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter found that Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native and Lati­no teens, ages 16 to 19, had high­er sta­tus dropout rates (i.e., nei­ther in school nor high school grad­u­ates) com­pared to the nation­al average.

These find­ings point to ongo­ing struc­tur­al inequities in access to high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, work­force oppor­tu­ni­ties and relat­ed resources — such as coun­selors, school and com­mu­ni­ty sup­port ser­vices and out-of-school-time pro­grams — that can help youth stay engaged.

Sup­port­ing Oppor­tu­ni­ty Youth

Pol­i­cy­mak­ers and lead­ers from mul­ti­ple sec­tors can take steps to reduce inequities and keep youth engaged in school or work, including:

• Pro­vid­ing access to afford­able, acces­si­ble high-qual­i­ty ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, espe­cial­ly in low-income com­mu­ni­ties, sets the stage for aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess and decreas­es dis­par­i­ties by income and race.
• Pro­vid­ing equi­table access to high-qual­i­ty K–12 edu­ca­tion, includ­ing ensur­ing that schools in low-income areas have ade­quate resources, coun­selors and sup­port ser­vices as well as pos­i­tive envi­ron­ments and non-puni­tive dis­ci­pline policies.
• Strength­en­ing ear­ly-warn­ing sys­tems in schools and com­mu­ni­ties to iden­ti­fy youth who are strug­gling and to con­nect them with need­ed sup­port, whether relat­ed to aca­d­e­mics, dis­abil­i­ties, fam­i­ly issues, health care, men­tal health or oth­er needs.
• Ensur­ing that flex­i­ble learn­ing expe­ri­ences are avail­able and tai­lored to youth needs and that schools offer strong sup­port for the tran­si­tion from mid­dle to high school and high school to post­sec­ondary path­ways, espe­cial­ly in areas with high­er rates of youth disconnection.
• Increas­ing access to youth devel­op­ment pro­grams — such as men­tor­ing, after-school and civic engage­ment — helps youth form rela­tion­ships with sup­port­ive adults and mean­ing­ful­ly con­tribute to their community.
• Pro­vid­ing equi­table access to high-qual­i­ty employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, such as intern­ships, appren­tice­ships and career and tech­ni­cal train­ing programs.
• Cre­at­ing tar­get­ed plans to address the unique needs of com­mu­ni­ties with high rates of oppor­tu­ni­ty youth.

For the mil­lions of young adults who are dis­con­nect­ed from work and school, lead­ers can also invest in efforts to address spe­cif­ic bar­ri­ers for this group, such as finan­cial sup­port for good child care so young par­ents can work or help with trans­porta­tion to job train­ing pro­grams. Addi­tion­al­ly, job pro­grams should be designed to pre­pare young peo­ple for high-qual­i­ty, in-demand posi­tions with ade­quate wages, ben­e­fits and growth potential.

As a recent RAND arti­cle described, “…there is no one-size-fits-all solu­tion for dis­con­nect­ed youth; rather, the wide vari­ety of expe­ri­ences and needs among dis­con­nect­ed young peo­ple call for a vari­ety of solutions.”

More Resources on Sup­port­ing Oppor­tu­ni­ty Youth

• See all data on youth and young adults in the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter, includ­ing more than 60 indi­ca­tors relat­ed to employ­ment, pover­ty, edu­ca­tion, health, men­tal health and fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty issues
• Access these publications:
  • Thrive: How the Sci­ence of the Ado­les­cent Brain Helps Us Imag­ine a Bet­ter Future for All Chil­dren, Lisa M. Lason, pres­i­dent and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation 
  • Career Path­ways to Suc­cess: Sup­port­ing Young Adults in Edu­ca­tion and Employ­ment, Annie E. Casey Foundation
  • Cre­at­ing Equi­table Ecosys­tems of Belong­ing and Oppor­tu­ni­ty for Youth, Forum for Youth Investment
  • Insights From a Pan­dem­ic, Johns Hop­kins University’s Every­one Grad­u­ates Center
  • Tip­ping the Scale, Jobs for the Future
  • Com­mu­ni­ty-Based Work­force Engage­ment Sup­ports for Youth and Young Adults Involved in the Crim­i­nal Legal Sys­tem, Urban Institute.

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