California, Texas and New York are among the states with the highest number of high school dropouts, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.
The U.S. Census Bureau data shows California, the country’s most populous state, had the lowest number of residents aged 25 and over whose education level was high school graduate or higher in 2022, with 84.7 percent.
California was followed by Texas, with 86.1 percent, and Louisiana with 87.3 percent. Other states in the bottom 10 of the list include Nevada, Mississippi, New York, New Mexico, Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia.
The state that had the most residents 25 and over who had high school diplomas was Vermont, with 95 percent. That was followed by Maine, with 94.6 percent, and New Hampshire, with 94.5 percent. Montana and Minnesota were also in the top five, both with 94 percent.
The full list is below.
Meanwhile, separate research by personal finance website WalletHub found Massachusetts, Vermont and Maryland were the most educated states in the country, while West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana were among the least.
That research compared the states across 18 key indicators including educational attainment—the share of adults with a high school diploma or college education.
Some states such as Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia “consistently perform poorly” when it comes to educational attainment, according to WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe.
“The reasons for this include various factors such as lower percentages of adults with high school diplomas, limited college experience or degrees, and lower quality of education metrics,” Happe told Newsweek.
Happe said these states also often struggle with lower graduation rates, have fewer enrolled students in top universities per capita, and lower scores on metrics like math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
U.S. Census, Flourish, Newsweek
Percentage of high school graduates or higher by state
- Vermont, 95 percent
- Maine, 94.6 percent
- New Hampshire, 94.5 percent
- Montana, 94 percent
- Minnesota, 94 percent
- North Dakota, 93.9 percent
- Wyoming, 93.7 percent
- District of Columbia, 93.7 percent
- Wisconsin, 93.5 percent
- Iowa, 93.5 percent
- Alaska, 93.3 percent
- South Dakota, 93.2 percent
- Utah, 93 percent
- Colorado, 93 percent
- Hawaii, 92.9 percent
- Nebraska, 92.8 percent
- Pennsylvania, 92.2 percent
- Washington, 92.2 percent
- Kansas, 92.1 percent
- Delaware, 92 percent
- Idaho, 92 percent
- Michigan, 91.8 percent
- Ohio, 91.8 percent
- Oregon, 91.6 percent
- Missouri, 91.6 percent
- Virginia, 91.5 percent
- Connecticut, 91.5 percent
- Maryland, 91.4 percent
- Massachusetts, 91.3 percent
- New Jersey, 90.7 percent
- South Carolina, 90.5 percent
- Rhode Island, 90.5 percent
- Illinois, 90.4 percent
- Tennessee, 90.4 percent
- Indiana, 90.2 percent
- North Carolina, 90.2 percent
- Florida, 89.9 percent
- Oklahoma, 89.6 percent
- Georgia, 89.5 percent
- Arizona, 89.2 percent
- Arkansas, 89.17 percent
- West Virginia, 89.1 percent
- Kentucky, 89 percent
- Alabama, 88.8 percent
- New Mexico, 88 percent
- New York, 87.9 percent
- Mississippi, 87.6 percent
- Nevada, 87.4 percent
- Louisiana, 87.3 percent
- Texas, 86.1 percent
- California, 84.7 percent
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.