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Top 10 Most-Educated U.S. States

Name the states where the highest percentage of people over 25 have at least a bachelor's degree.
For the year 2022, according to the U.S. Census
Quiz by nonono
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Last updated: September 18, 2023
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First submittedNovember 5, 2015
Times taken58,725
Average score80.0%
Rating4.48
1:30
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%
State
46.6
Massachusetts
45.9
Colorado
44.2
Vermont
43.8
Maryland
43.5
New Jersey
%
State
42.2
Virginia
41.9
Connecticut
41.3
New Hampshire
40.0
New York
39.6
Rhode Island
+6
Level 65
Nov 5, 2015
I'm glad to be in the top 20!
+2
Level 71
Mar 22, 2021
My state (Pennsylvania) just barely misses out, at #22. Although I'm guessing my town has a higher rate than average (and also a high graduate degree rate than average) since it's home to Penn State University.
+1
Level 65
Nov 9, 2015
Texas should be here. It would be interesting if we could have "Best Educated Cities Quiz". or do we have it already?
+43
Level 88
Nov 16, 2015
No. Texas just misses being in the bottom 20, coming in at #29 nationally.
+2
Level ∞
Sep 1, 2017
https://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/americas-smartest-cities-quiz
+11
Level 41
Dec 3, 2017
My Colorado teacher taught me that we were all fish in the beginning, then a couple of fish had a baby and that baby was different so it got to live and then that fish crawled out of the ocean with its mutant fish hands and made a frog squirrel that then had a baby and made a monkey fish frog and then that made me.

So happy to be from the 2nd best educated state :)

+21
Level 49
Dec 3, 2017
I want what he's smoking
+3
Level 28
Dec 10, 2021
Cool sum up of the evolution process actually.
+7
Level 89
Dec 11, 2021
So there you go. You're the offspring of five monkeys having a baby with a fish squirrel. Congratulations.
+2
Level 72
Sep 19, 2023
Between that and just being devinely created by God, I think I'd rather be made by God....
+1
Level 66
Jan 26, 2024
Did they butcher the teaching of evolution that badly? Or did you just misunderstand it that badly?
+3
Level 67
Jan 26, 2024
It's a joke. It's from South Park.
+3
Level 69
Dec 3, 2017
Got all except NJ. I did not see that one coming after living in Philadelphia 10 years.
+2
Level 38
Dec 3, 2017
COLORADO!
+2
Level 37
Jun 15, 2018
We have gone from a system which focused on "Liberal Arts" during the first years of University (concentrating on our major in the final years) to a system that bombards us with our chosen major (as if indeed, we can seriously commit to one at the age of 17 or 18) from the moment we walk into our first college "orientation". As a result, we have spawned a generation of college graduates who, rather than having an appreciation of the Arts and Literature know everything there is to know of a narrow field (their major course of study) and nothing about anything else!. Progress? or the dumbing down of a nation?
+2
Level ∞
Jun 15, 2018
Don't worry, it doesn't matter what students study in college, since college students barely study and don't learn. I am inclined to agree with people who say that most universities are diploma mills. But that's okay. College is still a fun and fulfilling experience for those who have the privilege of attending. It also allows employers to choose people who they know are capable of jumping through hoops and living independently.
+1
Level 78
Oct 3, 2019
We have the same kind of "progress" in Europe.
+1
Level 78
Oct 3, 2019
@divantilya, I'm curious as to what you mean. Every university around me, including large state schools with over 20,000 students, make all students take a core curriculum regardless of major. The core curriculum is liberal arts but is ideally spread out over four years with basic classes for the major in the first two and more intensive major classes in the last two. I was told that it was done this way so that the last two years aren't all classes in one subject so students continually think in different ways throughout their time in college.
+1
Level 65
Jan 29, 2024
In theory it's supposed to work that way, but some "general education" classes are tailored to specific majors. It is possible to take enough gen. eds. to get you to your 3rd year, and then pick a major which requires you to take alternative gen. ed. classes specific to that major. This is actually the case for most universities.
+1
Level 67
Jan 26, 2024
I love education for its own sake as much as anyone, but, at the outrageous cost of college, it really should ensure you are prepared for employment. Most people do not have the money to spend $140,000 honing their Jeopardy! skills. And if you go to an "elite" school, the cost can be more than double that. If you're going to demand that a teenager dig themselves into that kind of debt, it is irresponsible, frankly, if you don't do everything to ensure they can get a lucrative job as soon as they leave. I wish I had learned more practical skills like accounting in college. I was an English major and scrupulously avoided any courses that focused on practical skills. All I did was literature, philosophy, history, etc. (And yes, I know those can still be helpful, but you know what I mean.) The goal should ultimately be a college education that is affordable and emphasizes the liberal arts. But we don't have that.
+4
Level 52
Sep 4, 2018
Quite surprised by Colorado
+1
Level 59
May 26, 2022
why
+1
Level 65
Jan 29, 2024
Because their minds are so clouded by marijuana they can't think clearly.
+2
Level 76
Jan 12, 2019
Whatever happened to R.I.?
+3
Level 81
Oct 3, 2019
The PawSox decided to move to Worcester and R.I. closed.
+1
Level 47
Apr 28, 2019
with this quiz and the median income quiz, I'm getting a distinct feeling that the beltway has an influence on why Virginia and Maryland always seem to do better than one would otherwise presume.
+2
Level ∞
Oct 3, 2019
I think you're right. The US government has a gigantic budget, of which a disproportionate amount is spent in the DC area.
+5
Level ∞
Oct 3, 2019
Incoming rant... I personally am of the opinion that we should move as many government jobs out of Washington DC as possible. Money goes a lot further in Kansas or Alabama than in does in DC. Not only would moving jobs save money, but it could bring needed opportunities to underdeveloped parts of the country. It's sad how brain-drain has deprived many states of their most educated citizens. It's time to reverse the flow and send money and high-paying jobs back to the interior of the country.
+1
Level 67
Jan 9, 2024
I think that it would be easier just to move the capital to somewhere cheaper, though that will never happen.
+1
Level 65
Jan 29, 2024
I would think most DC residents would welcome that! With the horrendous traffic, high crime rate, and high cost of living, there are far better places in the country to live.
+1
Level 78
Oct 3, 2019
@Quizmaster, wouldn't that lead to more inefficiency since the government would be spread out over a greater area? I know the government is already incredibly inefficient but if one agency was in Topeka, one in Cleveland, one in DC, and one in Oakland, wouldn't the inefficiency go up? Also, wouldn't it cost a lot more to operate the government since new facilities would have to be built and everything would be spread apart? And, each time Congress wanted to have a hearing we'd have to fly people across the country and back instead of across a city. I agree that the interior is neglected but would moving the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to Omaha really help Nebraska or would it create more gridlock?
+4
Level ∞
Sep 14, 2023
The Department of Education doesn't need face-to-face meetings with the Department of Energy, etc... Having different departments in different cities would save money. Furthermore, it would establish a stronger connection between the federal government and the states.
+2
Level 85
Sep 18, 2023
I'd argue the concentration of it all in one place has increased the gridlock, not reduced it. You have groupthink and bureaucratic culture reinforced writ large.

And having worked in federal government, proximity of offices has absolutely no impact upon communication. It's not like staffers from the FBI are driving two hours in gridlock to meet with the EPA.

+1
Level 55
Sep 22, 2023
Quizmaster, I think you are absolutely right
+1
Level 65
Jan 29, 2024
It's funny to think the government could be efficient at anything. They are mostly located in DC now and can't get anything done efficiently!
+3
Level 71
Oct 3, 2019
What's up with Colorado? Most of these states are Northeast or mid-Atlantic and then suddenly you have a mountain state
+2
Level 67
Oct 3, 2019
Only missed Colorado and Minnesota
+1
Level 81
Oct 4, 2019
Suprised Rhode Island was the lone missing New England state
+5
Level 44
Oct 15, 2021
Don't erase Maine like that!
+2
Level 55
Apr 18, 2021
I am from New Jersey, and I was sort of surprised by it being 4th...
+1
Level 47
Dec 10, 2021
Washington State reppin' the West Coast!
+1
Level 68
Dec 10, 2021
Got all ten with 35 second left :)
+1
Level 76
Dec 10, 2021
I thought there would be an outlier or two on here, but I'm not surprised with these answers in the least.
+1
Level 61
Sep 21, 2022
Number oneee
+1
Level 59
Feb 12, 2023
I thought New Hampshire would be higher, and didn't even think New Jersey nor New York would make it.
+2
Level 21
Jun 2, 2023
lmao i just guessed northern states
+1
Level 90
Sep 18, 2023
New England in the hizzy.
+2
Level 67
Sep 18, 2023
Just missed Colorado
+3
Level ∞
Sep 19, 2023
I was just going through some Census data and I decided to sort by cities with the fewest high school graduates.

The lowest was East Los Angeles, where only 53.3% of adults have a high school diploma.

But surprisingly there are a few Massachusetts cities with a poor record of high school educational attainment. Only 75.8% of adults in Lawrence, MA have a high school degree. In New Bedford, it's just 76.2%. Fall River is at 78%. So even in the "most educated state" there are pockets where things aren't that great.

On the other hand, 98.4% of adults in Auburn, Alabama have a high school degree which is 5th highest in the country.

+1
Level 66
Jan 26, 2024
Surprised Maine wasn't here. It's a white, heavily Democratic state… seems like it'd be higher.
+1
Level 66
Jan 26, 2024
It'll be interesting to see how education levels change as liberal states progressively lower the ceiling of curriculum in the name of "equality". I guess their fixation on equal outcomes across diverse groups of people has ensured that any students capable of exceeding will be anchored to the most rudimentary capability.

I wonder what the world will look like, when college graduates have a basic or inferior understanding of Math, Chemistry, Physics...

Maybe grading itself will be deemed too dangerous to society, and a high school diploma will be deemed a necessary basic human right, bestowed to anyone who turns 18.

+1
Level 79
Jan 27, 2024
lmao if a ceiling is being lowered in higher ed it has little to do with scary liberals talking about equality and probably more to do with colleges being run primarily like businesses instead of learning institutions. Widen the applicant pool, advertise the school more, and you'll get a lower acceptance rate while also being less and less able to analyze applications 'holistically' and more likely to just admit whoever. Maybe that has something to do with equality but nothing to do with the curriculum. Also the pandemic really messed with life as a student in the US. The world wouldn't look any different because we already live in a world where most college grads don't have more than an intro level understanding of math, chem, or physics unless they choose to major in one of those, and I'm pretty sure those are growing fields because jobs. I wonder what the world will look like when people stop giving a crap about the humanities, which is an actual problem in higher ed.
+1
Level 65
Jan 29, 2024
Grading has already become a bad word in many liberal communities. We have decided that letting kids experience failure is bad for them, so we make sure they can't fail. Then, when they experience it for the first time in the real world, they can't deal with it and end up failing miserably at life.
+1
Level 79
Jan 29, 2024
Did you look at any arguments for why people don't like grading and think about them at all, or just couldn't resist the urge to blame the liberal communities, shake your fist, and complain about today's snowflake kids who know nothing about the big scary 'real world'?
+1
Level 53
Jan 27, 2024
Seem to be voting Democratically generally