He is a social demographer with a strong research program that emphasizes three, often intersecting themes: (1) health disparities; (2) the social determinants and consequences of obesity; and (3) methodological and statistical innovations in demography and related social sciences. Reither has received funding from the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and the National Institutes of Health to support this program of research. He has published numerous research articles on these issues in top journals in public health and the social sciences such as Demography, Social Science and Medicine, Pediatrics, and Health Affairs.