Study Ranked The Smartest States And South Carolina Its Not You
Graduations for the class of 2022 have come and gone. High school seniors have made their college plans and others are starting their careers. Does being from a certain state…
Graduations for the class of 2022 have come and gone. High school seniors have made their college plans and others are starting their careers. Does being from a certain state give you an advantage? Obviously, the quality of the school system where you live is going to have an impact. But are certain states smarter than others? Well, PennStakes.com thinks so. They recently conducted research to find out what are the smartest states and South Carolina, well this one wasn't for you!
Some of these rankings do line up with America's top universities, but not all. And are schools like Harvard and Yale a fair representation of the entire state? How could they be when these schools are so exclusive. But gosh, it's hard to believe that in the bottom 5th of all the smartest states is where you find South Carolina.
So where did these rankings come from? PennStakes analyzed several key metrics including IQ scores, SAT scores, and more to create these rankings. You can see the full methodology at the end of this article.
America's Smartest States (15 Lowest Ranking States)
50. West Virginia
Total Score: 12.6
krblokhin/Getty Images Plus49. Mississippi
Total Score: 13.3
SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images Plus48. Louisiana
Total Score: 15.2
Sean Pavone/Getty Images Plus47. Arkansas
Total Score: 19.1
Sean Pavone/Getty Images Creative46. Nevada
Total Score: 20.0
Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images Plus45. New Mexico
Total Score: 20.4
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA downtown cityscape and street at twilight.
44. Alabama
Total Score: 22.4
Allard1/Getty Images Plus43. Oklahoma
Total Score: 22.4
pabradyphoto/Getty Images Plus42. Texas
Total Score: 23.9
Дмитрий Ларичев/ Getty Images Plus41. South Carolina
Total Score: 28.0
White more than double the bottom two on this list, SC did still sore a dismal 28.0. In contrast the "smartest" state on this list scored a 93.9.
Oleksii Liskonih/Getty Images Plus40. Kentucky
Total Score: 30.5
Sean Pavone/Getty Images Plus39. Florida
Total Score: 32.4
Getty Images/SeanPavonePhoto38. Tennessee
Total Score: 34.2
Getty Images/Kruck2037. Arizona
Total Score: 35.9
Jonathan Ross Getty Images36. Idaho
Total Score: 36.5
knowlesgallery/Getty Images PlusTop 15 Smartest States
15. Nebraska
Total Score: 52.5
wellesenterprises/Getty Images Plus14. Kansas
Total Score: 53.3
Getty Images/Samantha Ward13. Utah
Total Score: 55.5
Getty Images/legacyimagesphotography12. Maine
Total Score: 55.8
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)11. New York
Total Score: 57.8
Jack Gao/ Getty Images Plus10. Washington
Total Score: 60.3
Cavan Images/Getty Images Plus
9. Minnesota
Total Score: 67.0
Susan Rydberg/Getty Images Creative8. Colorado
Total Score: 69.4
lightphoto/Getty Images Plus7. New Jersey
Total Score: 69.5
AUDREY SCRIPP/Getty Images Plus6. New Hampshire
Total Score: 70.5
Sean Pavone/Getty Images Plus5. Vermont
Total Score: 72.2
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)4. Virginia
Total Score: 72.5
SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images Creative3. Maryland
Total Score: 72.8
SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images Plus2. Connecticut
Total Score: 73.8
Sean Pavone/Getty Images Plus1. Massachusetts
Total Score: 93.9
Massachusetts decidedly takes the win, with a score a full 20 points higher than the 2nd place state.
Fabiano Lacerda Dossanto/Getty Images Plus
