This article looks at the least educated state in the US. To see the full free list, you can head over to the 20 Least Educated States in the US.

Findings by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2022 observed a direct relationship between education levels and earnings, with income rising with higher attainment of education. Individuals with less than a high school diploma earned a mere $682 per week, compared to around $1,000 for those with an associate degree. On the other hand, persons holding a bachelor’s degree made $1,432 per week, followed by $1,661 for master’s or postgraduate degree holders, and over $2,000 per week for individuals with professional or doctoral qualifications.

Educational Attainment in the United States

The United States is one of the most educated countries in the world, with 142 campuses ranked among the top 1,000 by QS Rankings, including three of the world’s top five universities being American. These include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University. According to the US Census Bureau, 37.7% of the country’s population aged 25 and above had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2022, up from 37.5% in 2020. On the other hand, 28% only had high school as their highest education level. During the 2022-2023 academic year, the US government spent an average of $17,495 per student, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Massachusetts is the most educated state in America, with 46.6% of its population aged 25 years and above having at least a bachelor’s degree. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of its youth aged between 18 and 24 have completed some college or associate degree. Some other states widely acclaimed for their education include Vermont, Colorado, New Jersey, and Maryland. Education levels, however, do not remain even across the country, varying by region and even deteriorating in some states, which is the focus of this article.

Making Education More Accessible

Many large corporations in the US actively strive to make education more accessible at a lower cost, both within the country and outside. One of them is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), which provides a digital platform to several online education companies. In 2019, the company established Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network, to provide internet connectivity to underserved regions.

The constellation is set to be launched during the fourth quarter of this year, under which Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will be launching around 3,000 satellites into orbit. The project received the license for deployment from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020, and there is great optimism about the project making online education affordable for millions of pupils around the world.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s TechSpark program has also been vital in providing residents in rural United States access to digital skills. As a result of this initiative, 88% of the schools in Northeast Wisconsin now offer computer science education, catering to the job market’s needs. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has also launched the Cybersecurity Readiness Program in Mississippi at Jackson State University, which offers cybersecurity experience to students.

The company, under its partnership with Mississippi, has another project in the state, called the CoBuilder Accelerator Program, which brings talented entrepreneurs together from across the state and provides them with necessary training for their ventures. Moreover, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Office 365 Education provides free access to students and teachers from various educational institutions to platforms such as Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint, and more.

Methodology

Four weighted metrics were used to rank the least educated states in the US. These included the share of the population aged 25 and above that had a high school education or less as their highest qualification, the percentage of people aged 25 and above that held a bachelor’s degree or higher, the pupil-to-teacher ratio in the state, and expenditure per pupil in the state. The first two metrics were related to the level of education and had a combined weightage of 90%, while the other two were concerning the quality of education in each state and had a weight of 10% in our overall analysis.

Data related to the level of education was sourced from the United States Census Bureau and is for the year 2022. For quality of education, we referred to Insider Monkey’s recent articles on the 20 Worst States for Education in the US and the 20 Best States for Education in the US. We observed where each state ranked on a particular metric and assigned it a weighted score. Finally, all weighted scores were aggregated to get an overall score. The 20 least educated states in the US are listed in descending order of their weighted scores.

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The least educated state in the US is West Virginia.

1. West Virginia

Population aged 25 and above with high school or less: 49.1%

Population aged 25 and above with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 24.8%

Pupil-to-Teacher Ratio: 13.5

Expenditure per Pupil: $16,214

Insider Monkey Score: 0.082

West Virginia is the least educated state in America with nearly half of its adult population aged 25 and above having only a high school diploma or less as their education. Higher education attainment also remains extremely low in the state. Only 15% of the population in this age group has a bachelor’s degree, compared to the national average of 23%. The share of people holding an advanced professional or postgraduate degree is 9.8%, below the national average of 14%.

To learn about other least-educated states, you can check out our detailed report 20 Least Educated States in the US.

At Insider Monkey, we delve into a variety of topics, ranging from the education level of states to other business aspects in the industry; however, our expertise lies in identifying the top-performing stocks. Currently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology stands out as one of the most promising fields. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published on Insider Monkey.