With reading scores falling nationwide and math gains uneven last year amid significant inflation and economic uncertainty, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s States with the Best & Worst School Systems, as well as expert commentary.
In order to determine the best school systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 32 key measures of quality and safety. The data set ranges from pupil-teacher ratio and dropout rate to median standardized-test scores.
| States with the Best School Systems | States with the Worst School Systems |
| 1. Massachusetts | 42. Hawaii |
| 2. Connecticut | 43. Alabama |
| 3. New Jersey | 44. Louisiana |
| 4. Virginia | 45. West Virginia |
| 5. New Hampshire | 46. Nevada |
| 6. Wisconsin | 47. Oregon |
| 7. Rhode Island | 48. Arizona |
| 8. Indiana | 49. Alaska |
| 9. Maryland | 50. Oklahoma |
| 10. New York | 51. New Mexico |
Best vs. Worst
- West Virginia has the lowest dropout rate, which is 2.7 times lower than in the District of Columbia, the highest.
- Vermont has the lowest pupil-teacher ratio, which is 2.2 times lower than in Arizona, the highest.
- Delaware has the lowest share of high school students who reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, which is 2.1 times lower than in Louisiana, the highest.
- The District of Columbia has the lowest share of high school students who were bullied online, which is three times lower than in New Hampshire, the highest.
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335
Story curtesy of WalletHub
