The article deals with the social future image of youth in the industrial regions. The structure of this image includes social ideals, social expectations and social attitudes. The conclusions of the article are based on the results of an empirical study conducted in May - September 2018. We conducted a survey of 1050 young workers (under 30 years of age), employed in industrial enterprises from six regions of Russia. It was found that the complicated sustainable image that reflects its ideal of social development has developed in the minds of young workers - the "desired social future image". The dominant feathers of this image are requests for high quality of life, development of high technologies, efficient market economy. Expectations of change are mostly pessimistic. The probability of occurrence of negative events is estimated by young people higher than the probability of positive events. Among the social fears of young people - rising prices, inflation, decline in living standards. In accordance with the social expectations of working youth, two groups of respondents were singled out: “optimists” - those who believe that the situation will change for the better, and “pessimists” - who believe that the situation will change for the worse. It has been proven that the images of the future of these groups have specific features. “Optimists” are more oriented towards a society with strong state power, and their optimism is explained by the coincidence of expectations of a high probability of strengthening state power in society with their social ideal. “Pessimists” are more focused on social democratic values, as an ideal of social development they are closer to a society of equality and justice, or a society with a high standard of living.