BUFFALO — After the school year ends, the job market opens up to high school students who have the summer months free from their responsibilities in the classroom. In Wyoming, the percentage of employed teenagers ages 15 to 19 runs much higher than the national average, with 58.7% being employed in 2023, according to the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services.
Food service
In July 2025, the largest share of youth workers were employed through the leisure and hospitality industry, employing 25% (5.4 million) of youth workers nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Carter Dunn, upcoming Buffalo High School junior, works as a host at the Bozeman Trail Steakhouse, seating the guests and closing the bill once they are done with their meals.
“My favorite part is probably doing credit cards because it’s kind of fun. You get to tap the screen and everything,” Dunn said.
Dunn’s journey to tapping screens at Bozeman wasn’t easy, as he said that many businesses did not call him back when he first inquired about a job. It wasn’t until Dunn’s mother pushed him to keep trying that he found work at Bozeman.
“I thought it was annoying, but I get what she was doing now. You need to go do that stuff, otherwise you won’t get hired. You need to put yourself out there,” he said.
Dunn was not alone in his difficult job search, as approximately 7 in 10 unemployed youth ages 16 to 24 were looking for full-time work in July 2025, according to the BLS.
Dunn said both looking and actually working a job have taught him valuable life experiences that he will be able to carry with him throughout his future.
“It teaches you discipline and shows you what it looks like to work in the real world, even though you’re still living with your parents and you don’t have to pay bills or anything. It still teaches you how to actually work,” he said.
Because Dunn doesn’t pay the bills quite yet, he said most of his paychecks are put into his college fund.
“My parents started it and they originally made me put a lot of it into my savings account, which is for college,” he said. “But then I started doing it myself. They didn’t have to ask me to do it anymore because I realized that it’s the smart thing to do.”
Despite his shifts starting at 4 p.m., Dunn still finds time to live out his high school summers with his friends.
“If I am working that day, I can still be, like, ‘Do you guys want to hang out?’ and everyone gets up at 11 a.m., gets ready and by 11:30 a.m., we are hanging out,” he said.
Owning a business
Although Dunn creates time for himself around his work schedule, some students want to have complete control over their time by making their own schedule.
Devin Reams, an incoming college freshman, decided to start his own lawn care business to give himself some summer freedom.
“I don’t like getting orders from other people, so I just wanted to do it my own way,” Reams said.
However, having an independent business comes with its own set of struggles.
“If I do a bad job, it really reflects on me,” Reams said. “If someone does a bad job at a company, it reflects more on the company, but since it’s just me, it only reflects on me.”
Along with worrying about his business’s public image, Reams had to secure his own supplies and set up a pricing structure, depending on gas prices and the lawn.
Last summer, when Reams started, he wanted to create his own income so that his mother didn’t have to buy him things anymore.
“I am definitely spending a lot of it on fun stuff, but I am trying to save for college,” he said.
Unlike most summer jobs, Reams would not make an income without finding his own clientele.
“I went door to door with a lot of people, and I bought an ad for the paper. From that, a couple people called and emailed me about it,” he said.
Lifeguarding
Some high schoolers don’t have to make time for being outside with friends and instead are able to do both by working as lifeguards at the Buffalo Municipal Outdoor Pool.
The pool is staffed almost entirely by teenagers. Because the swimming pool is open from late May to mid-August, its hours accommodate most high school students’ schedules.
Lily Jordahl, an upcoming BHS senior, has been working summers at the outdoor pool since her freshman year.
“I think I just chose it because my brother did it and got really into it, so it was something I could do too,“ Jordahl said.
She originally needed to find a job for gas money.
“I feel like a lot of my money either goes towards gas or fun money or something, but I would like to start saving more this year for college,” Jordahl said.
But being a lifeguard isn’t always sunshine and good times, as guards have to be prepared to save a life at any time.
“You have to get fully lifeguard certified. So there’s an online class that you have to take, which is maybe like 15 hours online, and then you go to get certified,” Jordahl said.
Certification for lifeguards includes passing a physical swim test and completing water rescue and CPR training.
Jordahl, who wants to become a fantasy book author, said holding a job at a young age helps in preparing for any future career path.
“I think when you’re younger, it gives you a lot of experience just to work, and get more jobs as you get older,” she said.
“I feel like with lifeguarding you have to be very observant and stuff. You really have to stay focused. I feel like that could be like a quality that goes over to really any career.”
Healthcare
Daya Olson, another upcoming BHS senior, decided on scrubs and stethoscopes instead of sunscreen and swimsuits. She is a certified nursing assistant at the Amie Holt Care Center.
In recent years the number of youth working in Wyoming in the healthcare and social industry has increased, with about 9% of all youth working in healthcare and social assistance sectors in 2023, according to the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services.
Olson began the job hunt last year in hopes to gain some work experience and make a steady income.
“I knew that real life was coming fast at me, and I wanted to just have experience before I get released on my own and I’m not with my parents. Plus, I really like money and working is the way to get it,” Olson said.
She typically uses her paychecks to pay for her car insurance, save for college and have some extra spending money.
Despite aspiring for a career in cosmetology, Olson said she was excited when she found that Amie Holt was looking for help.
“I’ve always loved old people so much, and that is one really big reason. My other reason is that I get paid really good for my age,” Olson said. “So it ties in with money, but it also ties in with how much I care for people. I love my residents, every single one of them, and it’s just a connection.”
While Olson may not be learning how to do the residents’ hair, she said her job at Amie Holt does help her in preparing for a future career in cosmetology because she’s learning how to work with people.
“I feel like in my job now, you work with patients that are difficult to manage, like dementia patients. So I feel like I am learning how to manage people and treat them,” she said.
Olson said that the perk of high pay did not come easily, because being a CNA takes more training than most high school summer jobs.
“The process takes a long time. You turn in your application, and then you have to go to these meetings where they tell you how to treat a resident. Then, you have to do an online course that takes around four weeks, maybe shorter depending on who you are. It just tells you all the important things about CNA’s and what you do, how to treat them, what to do in the case of an emergency and things like that,” she said.
Because of everything she has gained at Amie Holt, Olson said it’s important to have a job at her age. Forty out of 47 longitudinal studies by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development studies show that youth who get work experience while still in school have better employment outcomes as adults