Study says these Texas areas are some of the least-educated in the country
Four metropolitan areas in Texas make up some of the least-educated areas in America, according to a new study.
WalletHub ranked the largest 150 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. to determine which are the most educated and which are the least educated. They based their methodology on two key factors: educational attainment/attainment gap and the quality of education.
The only Texas metropolitan statistical area to make the top 10 most-educated list was the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown area, ranking No. 9 in the country.
Unfortunately, Texas has a larger showing in the list’s lower half. The Corpus Christi, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-Harlingen and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan statistical areas were all ranked in the bottom 10, making them the least-educated areas in the U.S., according to WalletHub.
Where does Dallas-Fort Worth rank in education?
After the Austin metro’s top 10 ranking, the next Texas metropolitan statistical area on the list is the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area at No. 67.
Three Dallas high schools recently ranked top 25 in the U.S. News & World Report’s best public high school list:
- No. 9 in the country: Dallas School for the Talented and Gifted
- No. 15: Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School
- No. 23: School of Science and Engineering
The most and least educated Texas areas
Here’s how the rest of Texas shapes up:
- No. 88: Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
- No. 100: San Antonio-New Braunfels
- No. 121: Killeen-Temple
- No. 134: El Paso
- No. 140: Corpus Christi
- No. 142: Beaumont-Port Arthur
- No. 148: Brownsville-Harlingen
- No. 149: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission
The Brownsville-Harlingen and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission areas rank as the two lowest in the country for all three of these categories: percentage of high school diploma holders, percentage of associate degrees and percentage of college-experienced adults.
WalletHub methodology – most to least educated U.S. cities
WalletHub focused on educational attainment and the quality of education and attainment gap.
Across those two factors were 11 metrics. Each city received a score based on the grades across each metric.
Metrics for education attainment used data to look at how much of the population had degrees, anywhere from high-school up until a doctoral degree.
Metrics for quality of education and the attainment gap used other rankings (from GreatSchools.org and WalletHub) to look at the best and worst public schools. They also looked into school’s race and gender data as well as summer learning opportunities and how many students are enrolled in college from that area.
To see a breakdown of WalletHub’s methodology and scoring system, visit the ranking here.