The Least Educated States In The US Were Revealed & The Worst Ones Have This Thing In Common
These places have some catching up to do.
The shorefront of New Orleans, LA.
When it comes to the American public school system, the quality of education you can expect to receive relies heavily on which state you live in. A recent study from WalletHub ranked the U.S. states from most to least educated, and the ones at the bottom of the list are all located in the South.
WalletHub took a look at all 50 states and compared them using 18 different metrics that focused on the quality of schools, graduation rates, reading and math testing scores, educational attainment, and quality and achievement gaps between different races and gender identities.
The least educated states, all of them Southern, are as follows: Kentucky at #45, Alabama at #46, Arkansas at #47, Louisiana at #48, Mississippi at #49, and finally, West Virginia at the very bottom at #50.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the states that were determined to have the most educated population were located in the North of the country, with Connecticut at #3, Maryland at #2, and Massachusetts at #1.
There are many theories as to why the South is home to infamously bad access to education. One frequent assumption is that it relates to a lack of robust institutional infrastructure in the region, while the rest of the country is perceived as more fully supporting its academic system.
During the month of August, Southern states were recognized in another WalletHub study as being the worst states to raise a baby in due to factors such as high maternal mortality rates, lack of access to health care and child care, and less than stellar public schools.
Overall, in WalletHub's assessments, this region of the country falls short when compared to states in the rest of the nation.