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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

Report: Chattanooga area is high in ‘disconnected youth’

Staff file photo/ One of the robotic stations in the Volkswagen Academy at VW's auto assembly plant in Chattanooga is viewed by students.
Staff file photo/ One of the robotic stations in the Volkswagen Academy at VW's auto assembly plant in Chattanooga is viewed by students.

The Tennessee congressional district that includes Chattanooga is among the worst 10 percent nationally in the share of youth who are neither in school nor employed, according to a new study.

The Social Science Research Council study indicated that 19.3 percent of those between ages 16 and 24 in the 3rd District are not working or in school – what the report called “disconnected youth.”

Congressional districts

Disconnected youth in select congressional districts and percent:1. Wisconsin, District 2, 4.9 percent2. Nebraska, District 2, 5.4 percent74. Georgia, District 6, 9.8148. Tennessee, District 7, 12 percent393. Tennessee, District 3, 19.3 percent431. Tennessee, District 9, 22.9 percentSource: Social Science Research Council

Metro areas

Disconnected youth in select metro areas and percent:1. Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA, 7.7 percent2. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT, 7.7 percent42. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN, 12.8 percent69. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, 14.9 percent84. Chattanooga, TN-GA, 16.8 percent87. Knoxville, TN, 17.5 percent98. Memphis, TN, 21.6 percentSource: Social Science Research Council

That percentage put the 3rd District, which stretches from Hamilton County to Scott County on the Kentucky border, as the 393rd worst among the nation’s 436 congressional districts, the study showed.