High school education attainment varies substantially across the United States. Census QuickFacts reports the percentage of people age 25 and older who are high school graduates or higher, ranging from 94.9% in Vermont to 81.2% in Puerto Rico among the places listed here. These figures describe adult educational attainment, not the graduation rate of students currently enrolled in high school.
Contents
- What these high school education statistics measure
- States with the highest attainment
- The middle of the state rankings
- States below 90 percent
- The lowest reported percentages
- A compact comparison of the range
What these high school education statistics measure
The measure used in this comparison is the percentage of persons age 25 and older who are high school graduates or higher. The source label supplied for every figure is Census QuickFacts United States. Because the measure is based on adults, it includes people who completed high school in different years and does not represent one graduating class or one school year.
The figures cover 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. They are percentages, so each number expresses the share of the relevant adult population meeting the stated education threshold. A value of 94.9% does not mean that 94.9% of students graduated during a particular year; it means that 94.9% of persons age 25 and older are reported as high school graduates or higher for the place listed.
The dataset does not provide a measurement date or a separate nationwide comparison value. For that reason, the rankings below identify the places and percentages reported by Census QuickFacts without assigning them to a specific survey year or treating them as current-year graduation results.
States with the highest attainment
The highest reported percentages are concentrated in the upper Midwest and Northeast, with additional high values in the Mountain West and Alaska. Vermont leads the listed places at 94.9%, followed closely by Maine at 94.8%. Montana is third at 94.6%, and New Hampshire is fourth at 94.4%.
The next group remains above 94%: Wyoming is 94.2%, North Dakota is 94.0%, and Minnesota is 93.9%. Alaska and Wisconsin are tied at 93.6%, while Utah is at 93.4%.
Here are the ten highest reported percentages:
| Rank | Place | High school graduates or higher |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 94.9% |
| 2 | Maine | 94.8% |
| 3 | Montana | 94.6% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 94.4% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 94.2% |
| 6 | North Dakota | 94.0% |
| 7 | Minnesota | 93.9% |
| 8 | Alaska | 93.6% |
| 8 | Wisconsin | 93.6% |
| 10 | Utah | 93.4% |
The remaining places above 93% are Iowa at 93.3%, Hawaii at 93.2%, and South Dakota at 93.2%. Colorado follows at 92.9%. The District of Columbia is reported at 92.7%, placing it between Colorado and Washington, which is reported at 92.3%.
These figures show a relatively narrow upper tier. The difference between Vermont, the highest listed place, and Utah, the tenth-highest, is 1.5 percentage points. The difference between Vermont and Colorado is 2.0 percentage points. Those comparisons describe the supplied percentages only; they do not establish why the places differ.
The middle of the state rankings
Many places fall between 90% and 92.2%. Nebraska is reported at 92.2%, followed by Michigan and Pennsylvania at 92.1% each. Kansas is 92.0%, while Missouri and Idaho are tied at 91.9%. Oregon and Ohio are both 91.8%, and Delaware is 91.7%.
Virginia is reported at 91.6%, Connecticut at 91.5%, and Massachusetts at 91.4%. Maryland is 91.1%. New Jersey is the last place in this group above 90%, at 90.7%.
This middle section contains several close rankings. Michigan and Pennsylvania have the same reported percentage. Missouri and Idaho also match, as do Oregon and Ohio. These ties matter when reading a rank order: places with equal percentages cannot be separated by the supplied measure at the displayed one-decimal precision.
Illinois is reported at 90.5%, and Indiana at 90.4%. South Carolina and North Carolina are tied at 90.1%, while Tennessee is at 90.0%. Taken together, these figures show that the 90% threshold includes a broad set of states, from New Jersey at 90.7% through Tennessee at exactly 90.0%.
The difference between the highest value in this middle group, Nebraska’s 92.2%, and Tennessee’s 90.0% is 2.2 percentage points. That is a comparison of displayed attainment percentages, not a count of people and not a change over time.
States below 90 percent
The reported percentages fall below 90% beginning with Florida at 89.9%. Rhode Island follows at 89.7%, and Arizona and Oklahoma are tied at 89.4%. West Virginia is 89.3%, while Georgia is 89.2%.
Kentucky is reported at 88.9%, Arkansas at 88.7%, and Alabama at 88.6%. New York and New Mexico are tied at 88.0%. Nevada is 87.5%, Louisiana is 87.3%, and Mississippi is 87.1%.
The figures in this group remain relatively close to one another even though they sit below the 90% mark. Florida is only 0.1 percentage point below 90%, while Mississippi is 2.8 percentage points below Florida. The supplied data therefore shows a gradual spread through the upper and middle 80s rather than a single break between two similarly sized groups.
The following sequence lists the reported places from Florida through Mississippi:
- Florida: 89.9%
- Rhode Island: 89.7%
- Arizona: 89.4%
- Oklahoma: 89.4%
- West Virginia: 89.3%
- Georgia: 89.2%
- Kentucky: 88.9%
- Arkansas: 88.7%
- Alabama: 88.6%
- New York: 88.0%
- New Mexico: 88.0%
- Nevada: 87.5%
- Louisiana: 87.3%
- Mississippi: 87.1%
As with the higher-ranked places, identical displayed values create ties. Arizona and Oklahoma cannot be ordered differently using the supplied percentages, and New York and New Mexico are likewise tied at 88.0%.
The lowest reported percentages
Texas is reported at 86.0%, the lowest percentage among the 50 states in the supplied list. California is at 84.7%. Puerto Rico is reported at 81.2%, the lowest value among all listed places.
The difference between Texas and California is 1.3 percentage points. The difference between California and Puerto Rico is 3.5 percentage points. Across the full listed range, Vermont’s 94.9% is 13.7 percentage points higher than Puerto Rico’s 81.2%.
These comparisons should be read with the geography stated clearly. Puerto Rico is not a state, and the District of Columbia is a federal district. They are included in the supplied Census QuickFacts comparison, but their figures should not be described as state percentages. The measure also remains an adult attainment measure in each geography, rather than a direct annual high school completion rate.
A compact comparison of the range
The table below groups selected points in the ranking to make the spread easier to read. It does not add a national average or calculate values that were not supplied.
| Comparison point | Place | Reported percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Highest listed place | Vermont | 94.9% |
| Tenth-highest displayed position | Utah | 93.4% |
| Highest District of Columbia value in the list | District of Columbia | 92.7% |
| First place below 90% | Florida | 89.9% |
| Lowest state value | California | 84.7% |
| Lowest listed place | Puerto Rico | 81.2% |
The complete ordering begins with Vermont, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota, Alaska and Wisconsin, then Utah, Iowa, Hawaii and South Dakota. Colorado, the District of Columbia, Washington, Nebraska, Michigan and Pennsylvania follow. Kansas, Missouri, Idaho, Oregon, Ohio, Delaware, Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey make up the next section.
The remaining order is Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Rhode Island, Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, New York, New Mexico, Nevada, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, California and Puerto Rico. Ties remain at the displayed precision: Alaska and Wisconsin, Hawaii and South Dakota, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Missouri and Idaho, Oregon and Ohio, South Carolina and North Carolina, Arizona and Oklahoma, and New York and New Mexico.
For readers using these numbers in an education guide, the most important distinction is between adult attainment and student outcomes. Census QuickFacts’ high school graduates-or-higher measure summarizes the educational background of people age 25 and older. It can support geographic comparison of attainment, but the supplied figures do not report dropout rates, cohort graduation rates, enrollment, school funding, test scores, or trends across measurement dates.