The 15 Cities With the Most Working Teens

Young woman works in a fast food restaurant
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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Smartest Dollar.

Getting a job as a teenager is a rite of passage for some, and a necessity for others.

While labor force participation across all workers remains about a percentage point lower today than it was immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic, teen labor force participation is actually up by 1.3 percentage points, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In fact, teens were the only age group to see a rise in labor force participation during the pandemic.

The number of working teens varies widely by location. These differences are due to a number of cultural, demographic, and economic factors.

To determine the locations with the most working teens, researchers at Smartest Dollar calculated the percentage of teens in the labor force.

For school enrollment, teens were defined as those ages 15-19, but for labor force participation, teens were defined as those ages 16-19.

The data referenced below is from the U.S. Census Bureau. See the details of our methodology at the end.

Here are the U.S. metropolitan areas with the most working teens.

15. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

Providence College
Jon Bilous / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 43.0%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 90.1%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.2%
  • Median household income: $70,676

14. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

Buffalo, New York
jiawangkun / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 43.5%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 89.6%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.2%
  • Median household income: $59,079

13. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC

Virginia Beach, Virginia
Ritu Manoj Jethani / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 44.6%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 84.1%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.6%
  • Median household income: $68,454

12. Columbus, OH

Columbus Ohio
f11photo / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 44.9%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 89.4%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.9%
  • Median household income: $66,715

11. Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN

Nashville, Tennessee
Kevin Ruck / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 45.3%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 88.3%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.6%
  • Median household income: $68,406

10. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

Cincinnati
Anne Kitzman / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 45.7%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 87.7%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.1%
  • Median household income: $66,435

9. St. Louis, MO-IL

St. Louis St Louis Saint Louis
Paul Brady Photography / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 45.9%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 88.5%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.2%
  • Median household income: $65,725

8. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

Denver, Colorado
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  • Teens in the labor force: 46.3%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 86.7%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.3%
  • Median household income: $83,289

7. Cleveland-Elyria, OH

Cleveland, Ohio
f11photo / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 47.1%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 88.0%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.2%
  • Median household income: $57,263

6. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN

Louisville, Kentucky
f11photo / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 47.2%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 85.4%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.7%
  • Median household income: $60,891

5. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Rudy Balasko / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 47.9%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 89.1%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 4.4%
  • Median household income: $63,739

4. Kansas City, MO-KS

Kansas City Missouri traffic highways
Real Window Creative / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 48.6%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 87.7%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.9%
  • Median household income: $69,240

3. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

Minneapolis Minnesota
photo-ua / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 49.8%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 91.2%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.3%
  • Median household income: $82,887

2. Grand Rapids-Kentwood, MI

Grand Rapids, Michigan
Suzanne Tucker / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 50.1%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 87.6%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 3.8%
  • Median household income: $66,297

1. Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City, Utah
f11photo / Shutterstock.com
  • Teens in the labor force: 50.2%
  • Teens enrolled in school: 85.1%
  • Teens not in school and not in the labor force: 5.0%
  • Median household income: $77,102

Methodology

Computer programmer
nd3000 / Shutterstock.com

The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.

To determine the locations with the most working teens, researchers at Smartest Dollar calculated the percentage of teens in the labor force. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater total number of teens in the labor force was ranked higher.

Note, for school enrollment teens were defined as those ages 15-19. For labor force participation, teens were defined as those ages 16-19.

To improve relevance, only metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residents were included.

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