Called Out, A North Carolina City Ranked As One Of The Least Educated In America
Well, this isn’t what you want to hear. A North Carolina city was named amongst the least educated in America according to data from USA By The Numbers. To be…
Well, this isn't what you want to hear. A North Carolina city was named amongst the least educated in America according to data from USA By The Numbers. To be fair the methodology was not included in this article, but by reading the introduction to this list I would wager it is based on the percentage of people with post-secondary education. I came to this conclusion based on the following sentence. "A stronger local economy and a better workforce are the results of a higher proportion of the population with postsecondary education or training. It may also be indicative of the quality of the local public school system." The author goes on to say you may want to avoid these cities.
So which North Carolina city is supposedly the least educated? According to USA By The Numbers Hickory ranked 11th on this list.
- Dalton, GA
- Merced, CA
- McCallen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
- Visalia-Porterville, CA
- Salinas, CA
- Ocala, FL
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Laredo, TX
- Fresno, CA
- Lafayette, LA
- Hickory, NC
- Beaumont, TX
- Modesto, CA
- North Charleston, SC
- Stockton-Lodi, CA
Without any disclosed data or methodology, I have to take this with a grain of salt. And going off the experiences I've had with Hickory, I'm going to respectfully disagree with these rankings. But if you want to read more about it you can read the full USA By The Numbers article here.
Two North Carolina Cities Are Among The Most Educated In The Country
When choosing a place to live there are a lot of factors that play into that decision. You want a good education for your children, but additionally living in a highly educated area has other benefits. More education means higher salaries, which in turn means economic growth and higher tax revenues. But what North Carolina cities are home to the most educated people? Well two of them made the top 20 of WalletHub's latest list. The list is 2022’s Most & Least Educated Cities in America. Another NC city just cracked the top 30 as well.
How do you determine the most educated cities? WalletHub compared the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas across 11 key metrics. They measured the share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Then looked at this number against the quality of the public-school system to the gender education gap.
It wasn't all good news for North Carolina though. Unfortunately, some cities also ranked towards the bottom of this list. Including Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC coming in at 145 out of 150. Another major city, missing from this list was sitting at 53.
Two North Carolina Cities Rank In The Top 30 Most Educated Cities In The Country
30. Lansing-East Lansing, MI
Lansing, Michigan, USA at the Michigan State Capitol during the evening.
Total Score: 62.3
Educational Attainment: 38
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 26
29. Urban Honolulu, HI
Beautiful rainbow over the Hawaii skyline
Total Score: 62.49
Educational Attainment:
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap:
28. Asheville, NC
Asheville, North Carolina, USA at twilight.
Total Score: 62.61
Educational Attainment: 38
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 26
27. Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT
Total Score: 64.07
Educational Attainment: 21
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 127
26. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA
Total Score: 64.97
Educational Attainment: 28
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 20
25. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 27: A view of the skyline from the Allspring Global Investments: New Brand Launch at PEAK at Hudson Yards on April 27, 2022 in New York City.
Total Score: 65.23
Educational Attainment: 27
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 16
24. Lexington-Fayette, KY
Aerial view of Jacobson Park Lake and Richmond Road in Lexington, Kentucky
Total Score: 66.17
Educational Attainment: 23
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 31
23. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Total Score: 67.07
Educational Attainment: 18
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 118
22. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Total Score: 67.13
Educational Attainment: 25
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 3
21. Huntsville, AL
Huntsville, Alabama, USA park and downtown cityscape at twilight.
Total Score: 67.41
Educational Attainment: 24
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 12
20. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
The New York State Capitol Building in Albany, home of the New York State Assembly. Monument of General Sherman on horseback.
Total Score: 67.58
Educational Attainment: 20
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 83
19. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
Image of Minneapolis downtown skyline at sunset.
Total Score: 68.12
Educational Attainment: 13
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 116
18. Tallahassee, FL
Aerial photo Downtown Tallahassee Florida State Capitol
Total Score: 68.47
Educational Attainment: 22
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 7
17. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
Portland, Oregon, USA downtown skyline with Mt. Hood at dawn.
Total Score: 69.24
Educational Attainment: 19
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 50
16. Portland-South Portland, ME
Portland, Maine, USA coastal townscape on Portland Harbor.
Total Score: 69.58
Educational Attainment: 16
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 70
15. Trenton-Princeton, NJ
The capital statehouse of New Jersey lights up as the sun sets the Delaware River in the background city of Trenton
Total Score: 70.11
Educational Attainment: 15
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 71
14. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
Total Score: 70.78
Educational Attainment: 12
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 79
13. Colorado Springs, CO
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
Total Score: 71.64
Educational Attainment: 14
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 30
12. Provo-Orem, UT
Aerial view of Provo City, Utah, Y Mountain, Brigham Young University, and surrounded neighborhoods
Total Score: 71.73
Educational Attainment: 17
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 24
11. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
Fayerweather Island, Black Rock Harbor, Bridgeport, Connecticut, lighthouse
Total Score: 71.96
Educational Attainment: 8
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 146
10. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
Total Score: 73.84
Educational Attainment: 11
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 13
9. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
Panoramic view of Seattle cityscape and Space Needle at sunset, Washington, USA
Total Score: 75.34
Educational Attainment: 10
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 14
8. Raleigh-Cary, NC
Total Score: 77.08
Educational Attainment: 7
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 44
7. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
Durham, North Carolina, USA downtown cityscape.
Total Score: 78.06
Educational Attainment: 9
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 4
6. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Boston, Massachusetts, USA skyline over Boston Common.
Total Score: 78.26
Educational Attainment: 6
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 47
5. San Fransisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
The crookedest street in the world Lombard street at dawn. San Francisco is lightened by morning sun.
Total Score: 80.77
Educational Attainment: 4
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 17
4. Madison, WI
Madison, Wisconsin, USA downtown skyline on Lake Monona in the daytime.
Total Score: 80.83
Educational Attainment: 2
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 49
3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Total Score: 81.78
Educational Attainment: 3
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 27
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Total Score: 82.03
Educational Attainment: 5
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap: 5
1. Ann Arbor, MI
University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. This campus is known as the Law Quad. The buildings show the Lawyers Club, a dormitory.
Total Score:
Educational Attainment:
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap:
Methodology (From WalletHub)
To identify the most and least educated cities in America, WalletHub compared the 150 most populated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across two key dimensions, including “Educational Attainment” and “Quality of Education & Attainment Gap.”
We evaluated those dimensions using 11 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest educational attainment and quality of education. For metrics marked with two asterisks (**), we used the square root of the population to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities.
Finally, we determined each metro area’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
Educational Attainment - Total Points: 80
Quality of Education & Attainment Gap - Total Points: 20
*Additional context: In metro areas where women have an advantage over men and black people have an advantage over white people, we gave extra credit compared to the metro areas with no gender-based/racial inequality.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, GreatSchools.org, Education Cities.org, Yelp and WalletHub research.
