With people who have college degrees earning around $600 to $1,200 more per week than people with just a high school diploma, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2024’s Most & Least Educated States in America, as well as expert commentary.
In order to determine the most educated states, WalletHub compared all 50 states across 18 metrics that examined the key factors of a well-educated population: educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races.
| Most Educated States | Least Educated States | |
| 1. Massachusetts | 41. Texas | |
| 2. Vermont | 42. New Mexico | |
| 3. Maryland | 43. Kentucky | |
| 4. Connecticut | 44. Nevada | |
| 5. Colorado | 45. Alabama | |
| 6. Virginia | 46. Oklahoma | |
| 7. New Jersey | 47. Arkansas | |
| 8. New Hampshire | 48. Louisiana | |
| 9. Minnesota | 49. Mississippi | |
| 10. Washington | 50. West Virginia |
Key Stats
- New Jersey has the highest school system rating, which is 41.2 times higher than in Oklahoma, the state with one of the lowest.
- Massachusetts has the highest share of bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older, which is two times higher than in West Virginia, the state with the lowest.
- Oregon has the lowest racial gap in educational attainment, with the share of black people aged 25 and older holding a bachelor’s degree at 25.88 percent compared to 23.06 percent for their white counterparts, a difference of 2.82 percent favoring black people.
