The 10 Best US States for Education

A recent study conducted by US News showed the best states for education in the United States. The study relied on numerous measures to come up with its findings. Based on the study, the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Utah were the best, second-best and third-best states for education in the country respectively.

The 3 Best US States For Education

Massachusetts

Massachusetts was named the best state in the country for education. The state was the national leader in highest education attainment among people not exceeding 25 years of age, with about 50% of Massachusetts young people below 25 years attaining higher education. The state also emerged as the country’s best in NAEP Math Scores of 8th graders in public schools. About 30.4% of children below five years in Massachusetts were in preschool, the 4th highest in the country. Harvard University is arguably the most famous educational institution in the state of Massachusetts and is often considered among the best institution of higher learning the entire country. Some other leading colleges in the state include the Tufts University in Medford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. One area that the state performed badly was the low debt among graduates, where the state was ranked at the 44th place because about 60% of graduates in Massachusetts have debts.

New Jersey

The second-best state in the United States for education is the state of New Jersey. Some of the leading colleges in New Jersey include Rutgers University in Camden and the College of New Jersey in Ewing. However, the number-one institution of higher learning in the state is Princeton University in Princeton. The state has the second-highest high school graduation rate of freshmen in the country, where 89.7% of freshmen were graduating after four years of education. The state had its worst performance in tuition and fees, where New Jersey was ranked at 46th position in the country. New Jersey had the second-highest preschool enrollment rate in the country, where 32.4% of children under the age of five years being in preschool.

Utah

Utah was the third-best state in the country for education. Students in Utah have the lowest debt at graduation, which average $20,000 and are the lowest of any state in the United States. The state was ranked as the second position in the country, based on high school education. Westminster College in Salt Lake City and Southern Utah University in Cedar City are among the best colleges in the state. Another area that the state performed well was in tuition and fees, where Utah was ranked as the fourth-best state in the country. However, the state performed poorly in college graduation rates, where about 45% of students in public colleges graduate in less than six years of college education, the sixth-lowest in the country.

Measures Used

Some of the measures used as the yardstick to come up with the best states in the country for education included the performance of students in public high schools, the graduation rates in public colleges, the amount of debt held by graduates, the rate of preschool admission, the quality of Pre-K education, among others.