Texas ranks low on the ‘most educated’ U.S. cities list. Here’s why
Texas appears in both the top and bottom 10 for most and least educated cities in the U.S., according to a new ranking.
WalletHub conducted a study that examined 150 of the largest metropolitan areas based on key factors like the quality of high school education and the number of adults with bachelor’s degrees.
“Cities want to attract highly educated workers to fuel their economic growth and tax revenues,” explains Wallet Hub, “In turn, educated people want to live somewhere where they will get a good return on their educational investment.”
Each state received a score on a scale of 100 based on educational attainment, quality of education, and attainment gap. Ann Arbor, Michigan, was at the top of WalletHub’s list with a score of 93.71.
Let’s see how Texas ranks on the most and least educated city list in America.
How WalletHub ranked Texas cities
Despite a handful of North Texas schools making the U.S. News & World Report list of best high schools, there are just a few Texas cities that lack higher education degrees.
Texas sees itself first on the list at No. 8., Austin Round Rock- Georgetown, with a score of 78.12. This is the only top 10 spot Texas holds.
In the bottom 10 (No. 140-150), Texas shows up four times. The rest of the state rankings go as follows:
No. 72: Dallas-Fort Worth, score 54.92
No. 84: Houston-Woodlands-Sugarland, score 52.85
No. 103: San Antonio- New Braunfels, score 48.69
No. 120: Killeen-Temple, score 42.32
No. 136: El Paso, score 32.80
No. 141: Corpus Christi, score 29.17
No. 143: Beaumont-Port Arthur, score 27.35
No. 148: Brownsville-Harlingen, score 12.29
No. 149: McAllen-Edinburg Mission, score 10.46
How did WalletHub determine these rankings?
WalletHub surveyed only adults 25 years or older. They broke down their scoring between the following metrics:
Educational attainment, total points: 80
Adults with a high school diploma or higher: 20 points.
Adults with at least some college experience or an associate’s degree or higher: 20 points.
Adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 20 points.
Adults with a graduate or professional degree: 20 points.
Quality of education and attainment gap, total points: 20
Quality of public school system: double weight, 4.44 points (this metric is based on greatschools.org’s ratings of U.S. public schools).
The average quality of universities: double weight 4.44 points (this metric is based on WalletHub’s “college & university” rankings report).
Enrolled students in the top 857 universities per capita: 2.22 points (this metric is based on WalletHub’s “college & university” rankings report).
Number of summer learning opportunities per capita: 2.22 points.
Racial education gap: 2.22 points (this metric specifically measures the difference between the percentage of black bachelor’s degree holders and the percentage of their white counterparts).
Gender education gap: 2.22 points (this metric specifically measures the difference between the percentage of female bachelor’s degree holders and the percentage of their male counterparts).
Education equality index score: 2.22 points (“the education equality index (eei) is a comparative measure of the achievement gap between students from low-income families, as measured by participation in the free and reduced price lunch program, and their more advantaged peers. the eei compares the proportion of students from low-income families who are proficient on a state assessment to all students across the state who took that same grade or subject level assessment,” according to WalletHub).
These rankings then added up to a score out of 100.
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 3:54 PM.