Montana Youth in Crisis: Here’s Why.

Many folks will tell you that it's never been harder to be a kid than it is now.

We live in a world of instant information, where in just a few seconds and a couple of keywords you can find ANYTHING on the internet. While that's beneficial in many ways, it can also be extremely damaging. Our youth are seeing and learning about things we didn't have to deal with when we were their age and being tempted in ways we never experienced as kids.

Throw in social media, broken families, peer pressure, and the effects that can have, and we are seeing more and more kids across Montana potentially being put at risk.

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WalletHub took a look at the data across the country when it comes to our youth and the situations they face and they came up with the states where youth are the most at-risk.

Where does Montana rank for at-risk youth?

According to the numbers, Montana youth are among some of the most at-risk in the United States. Montana ranks 8th out of 50 states for at-risk youth and it's based on a few different factors.

• Disconnected youth
• Youth without a high school diploma
• Overweight youth
• Youth drug users
• Youth labor force participation 
• Youth poverty rate
• Homeless youth

According to the statistics when it comes to the above categories, Montana ranks 20th with youth without a high school diploma, 10th in youth drug users, 6th in youth poverty rate, and 8th in homeless youth.

Is this something the state should do something about? What, if anything can they do? More social programs? More non-profits? While things certainly can't be fixed overnight, the fact that 42 other states are graded higher than we are when it comes to their youth should be alarming for all of Montana's residents.