California lands in bottom half of most educated states, new data suggests

Will Conybeare

9 months ago

FILE - New graduates line up before the start of a community college commencement in East Rutherford, N.J., on May 17, 2018. The Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 of student loan debt per borrower, yet loan forgiveness is still possible for those pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment forgiveness. A one-time account adjustment that began in July 2023 is still ongoing and gives credit for certain periods of deferment, forbearance or default that normally wouldn’t count toward forgiveness. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

While getting a good education does not guarantee higher income in the future, analysts have found a correlation between the two.

However, despite the large number of Golden State residents who rank among the richest people in the world (87 as of October 2023), a new study by WalletHub found that California’s educational opportunities don’t necessarily align with increased future income levels.

WalletHub analyzed data from “key indicators of a well-educated population” across all 50 states including educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races to determine which parts of America are most and least educated.

The study found that California falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to overall education ranking, according to WalletHub, finishing 29^th out of the 50 states despite having the eighth-highest quality of education in the nation.

California’s education attainment rating, however, is 37^th best in America, WalletHub researchers found.

Highest on WalletHub’s list for most educated states was Massachusetts, where educational attainment and quality both rank first in the nation.

On the other end of the spectrum, analysts concluded that West Virginia is the least educated state, with the worst educational attainment rank and the sixth-worst educational quality rank in the U.S.

WalletHub’s list of most educated states can be viewed in the table below:

Overall rank	State	Total weighted score	Educational attainment rank	Quality of education rank
1.	Massachusetts	82.32	1	1
2.	Vermont	76.30	3	6
3.	Maryland	75.97	4	5
4.	Connecticut	73.51	6	3
5.	Colorado	70.83	2	34
6.	Virginia	70.43	5	10
7.	New Jersey	69.97	10	4
8.	New Hampshire	68.32	7	15
9.	Minnesota	66.98	8	16
10.	Washington	64.27	9	25
11.	Utah	63.33	11	18
12.	Delaware	60.05	19	7
13.	Illinois	59.19	16	12
14.	Montana	58.30	13	31
15.	New York	58.29	18	14
16.	Rhode Island	57.77	21	9
17.	Oregon	57.44	12	43
18.	Hawaii	57.43	15	27
19.	Maine	56.51	14	37
20.	Wisconsin	54.84	25	13
21.	Florida	54.54	35	2
22.	North Carolina	52.80	28	17
23.	Kansas	52.18	17	48
24.	Nebraska	51.97	20	41
25.	North Dakota	51.69	24	38
26.	Pennsylvania	51.38	26	30
27.	Michigan	51.19	27	28
28.	Wyoming	50.87	23	48
29.	California	50.37	37	8
30.	Georgia	49.20	32	23
31.	Alaska	49.10	22	49
32.	Missouri	48.94	31	26
33.	Iowa	48.76	30	29
34.	South Dakota	48.48	34	24
35.	Ohio	48.33	36	20
36.	Arizona	46.02	33	40
37.	Idaho	45.97	29	45
38.	South Carolina	44.55	38	35
39.	Tennessee	43.38	40	19
40.	Indiana	43.32	41	11
41.	Texas	40.50	42	22
42.	New Mexico	37.12	39	50
43.	Kentucky	36.06	45	32
44.	Nevada	35.67	46	21
45.	Alabama	35.62	44	36
46.	Oklahoma	34.93	43	46
47.	Arkansas	31.03	47	33
48.	Louisiana	28.84	48	39
49.	Mississippi	25.72	49	47
50.	West Virginia	24.82	50	44

Source: WalletHub

Additional research conducted in the same WalletHub study found that California has the lowest percentage of high school diploma holders in America but ranks in the top five for average university quality.

The full list of metrics used by WalletHub for the study can be found here.