The Truth About How Utah’s Young Adults And Youth Are Doing

Utah youth and young adults are not actually doing too badly when it comes to being at-risk, but it isn’t perfect.  

Data from WalletHub and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System show that the state is on the lower end of risk. However, mental health and other issues are still impacting younger people.  

From WalletHub who did looked at education/employment and health in all 50 states, Utah seems to be doing okay. The age range was 18-24 and about 13% of those across the U.S. are neither working nor going to school. Plus, there are health conditions that hinder them, WalletHub said.  

Utah received an overall score of 35.07 and placed 45th on the list. Utah ranked 43 on education/employment and 37 on health.  

Relatively speaking that's very low on the list. Louisiana came in first...for the worst ranked state for these age ranges.  

In Utah’s youth, the YRBBS showed that more kids are playing video games and watching TV than they were in 2013 in the beehive state. Only 21.7% of Utah kids met the minimum 60 minutes of physical activity per day.  

When it comes to mental health, Utah kids are also feeling sadder and hopeless at 41.5% which is a significant increase from 33% in 2017. The number of those youth who contemplated suicide stayed steady.  

Violence in dating did seem to go down from 12.6% in 2007 to 6.1% in 2021. However, emotional and verbal hurt has gone to 20.6% in youth dating.  

So, Utah is in a bit of a weird place. Physical and mental health in youth seem to be declining but young adults are seeing okay numbers when it comes to employment and overall health.