With early education shown to boost future earning potential but few states offering free preschool programs, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2024’s States with the Best & Worst Early Education Systems, as well as expert commentary.
In order to determine the best early education systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program to the number of pre-K quality benchmarks met and total reported spending per child enrolled in pre-K.
| States with the Best Early Education Systems | States with the Worst Early Education Systems | |||
| 1. Arkansas | 42. Hawaii | |||
| 2. District of Columbia | 43. Idaho | |||
| 3. Nebraska | 44. Montana | |||
| 4. Maryland | 45. Alaska | |||
| 5. Oregon | 46. New Hampshire | |||
| 6. West Virginia | 47. Minnesota | |||
| 7. South Carolina | 48. Massachusetts | |||
| 8. New Jersey | 49. Missouri | |||
| 9. Vermont | 50. North Dakota | |||
| 10. Connecticut | 51. Indiana | |||
Best vs. Worst
- 13 states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and South Carolina, have the highest share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program, which is 3.8 times higher than in Mississippi, the state with the lowest.
- The District of Columbia has the highest share of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, pre-K Special Education or Head Start programs, which is 8.1 times higher than in Idaho, the state with the lowest.
- Connecticut has the highest income requirement for state pre-K eligibility, which is 5.6 times higher than in Minnesota, which has one of the lowest.
- The District of Columbia has the highest total spending per child enrolled in preschool, which is 7.1 times higher than in Florida, which has one of the lowest.
- The District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Vermont and Idaho have some of the lowest monthly child care co-payment fees (as a share of family income), which is ten times lower than in Kentucky and North Carolina, the states with the highest.
