The Most -- And Least -- Educated States In The U.S. In 2017

By Forbes Magazine
The Most -- And Least -- Educated States In The U.S. In 2017

By: Karsten Strauss ,  

FORBES MAGAZINE STAFF 

In a dynamic economy and an ever-evolving workforce, education remains a major factor in determining qualifications, certification and proof of a job candidate’s interest in a space. It can also signal whether a region has a smart workforce.

With that in mind we look to a recently released study provided by WalletHub, a credit score and financial information site that publishes various reports on jobs, economy and financial matters. The company’s study, this time, looks at the most and least educated states in the U.S., based on the attainment of degrees and the quality of the education provided.

The results – the list of the ten most educated states – can be found in a slideshow below. A roster of the least educated states can be found on the following page of this post.

In compiling its rankings, WalletHub allocated 80 points in its scoring system to educational attainment. That category includes factors such as the share of adults aged 25 and older with at least a high school diploma, or a college diploma, or even post-grad degrees.

The other 20 points in the methodology’s 100-point system depends on the quality of a state’s public schools and universities, enrollment, graduation rate and, last but not least, the racial and gender gaps in educational attainment (big gaps are not considered good).

Getting to the list, one of the most educated states in WalletHub’s report is Colorado, which received an overall score of 74.24 and came in third place. Stacked up against other states in the union, Colorado ranked second in educational attainment and 26th in its quality of education and attainment gap. The state ranked no. 1 in the category of highest percentage of associates degree holders or college-experienced adults.

In second place in the ranking of most educated states is Maryland, with an overall score of 77.06. In the larger picture, the state ranked third against all other states in educational attainment and fourth in the quality of education and attainment Gap Rank. Maryland was ranked second among all states for the highest percentage of graduate or professional degree holders.

The most educated state, according to WalletHub’s ranking, is Massachusetts, with an overall score of 80.65. The state ranked first in educational attainment and sixth overall ins education quality and attainment gap. Massachusetts also has the highest percentage of bachelor’s degree holders and the highest percentage of graduate or professional degrees holders.

On the other end of the spectrum, the states that had the poorest showing in the education department are listed below:

West Virginia, which ranked at the bottom overall, also came in last place in three categories: percent of associates degree holders and college experienced adults, percent of bachelor’s degree holders and percent of bachelors or professional degree holders.

The state with the highest racial gap in educational attainment is Minnesota and the state with the highest gender gap is Rhode Island. The state with the lowest percentage of high school diploma holders is California.

Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, The Chronicle of Higher Education and U.S. News & World Report.