California may be home to the least educated cities in the nation, according to recent research. Of the eight cities ranked at the bottom of the study’s list, the Golden State is home to six of them.
To determine the rankings, the 150 most populous metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States were compared by WalletHub along two important criteria, namely Educational Attainment and Quality of Education & Attainment Gap. They then used eleven pertinent metrics to assess those criteria. They then applied a 100-point rating system to each metric.
Coming in last on the list is Visalia, California, which scored 149th in Educational Attainment and 118th in Quality of Education & Attainment Gap. Bakersfield (147th), Modesto (146th), Salinas (145th), Fresno (144th) and Stockton (143rd) also ranked in the bottom eight.
The state of Texas also fared poorly in the study. Researchers ranked the McAllen metro area 149th, the Brownsville metro area 148th, the Beaumont metro area 142nd, and Corpus Christi 140th.
The only other state represented in the bottom 10 least educated cities in America was North Carolina, with the Hickey metro area coming in 141st.
The most educated cities in America are more spread out across the nation
However, on the flip side of the educational coin, North Carolina had two cities among the top 10 most educated cities in the nation. The Durham-Chapel Hill metro area came in second on the list, while Raleigh-Cary ranked seventh.
Eight different states split the remaining spots in the top 10. The Seattle, Washington, metro area came in 10th, followed by the Boston, Massachusetts, metro area in eighth. The San Francisco, California, metro area ranked sixth on the list, and Madison, Wisconsin, was fifth.
The Washington, D.C. metro area scored fourth-best for the most educated cities in America. The San Jose, California, metro area came in third. And taking the top spot was Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area is the most educated in the country, with over 96% of adults ages 25 and older having at least a high school diploma, nearly 59% having a bachelor’s degree and nearly 32% having an advanced degree, all of which are among the highest rates in the country,” the study’s authors wrote.
“Ann Arbor also ranks ninth in the country when it comes to the quality of its universities, and it has the best public-school system. In addition, the metro area has a lot of equality in educational attainment, with only a 1.8% gap between the share of women and men who have at least a bachelor’s degree.”