US Counties With the Lowest Share with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher
3,207 US counties ranked by share with a bachelor's degree or higher, from lowest to highest. First are Loving County, TX (0%), McDowell County, WV (5.75%) and Elliott County, KY (6.22%). The middle one of the 3,207 has 21.6%.
What this measures
The percentage of adults aged 25 and over who have at least a bachelor's degree. It counts degrees people already have, not people who are in college now. Source: Census ACS 5-year.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 lowest counties
Every state, lowest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | 23.3% |
| 2 | Mississippi | 24.2% |
| 3 | Arkansas | 25.1% |
| 4 | Louisiana | 26.6% |
| 5 | Kentucky | 27% |
| 6 | Nevada | 27.4% |
| 7 | Alabama | 27.8% |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 27.8% |
| 9 | Indiana | 28.8% |
| 10 | Puerto Rico | 29.1% |
| 11 | Wyoming | 29.9% |
| 12 | New Mexico | 30.2% |
| 13 | Tennessee | 30.4% |
| 14 | Iowa | 30.9% |
| 15 | Ohio | 30.9% |
| 16 | South Dakota | 31.1% |
| 17 | Idaho | 31.2% |
| 18 | Alaska | 31.2% |
| 19 | South Carolina | 31.5% |
| 20 | Michigan | 31.8% |
| 21 | Missouri | 31.9% |
| 22 | North Dakota | 32.3% |
| 23 | Arizona | 32.6% |
| 24 | Wisconsin | 32.8% |
| 25 | Texas | 33.1% |
| 26 | Florida | 33.2% |
| 27 | Nebraska | 34.1% |
| 28 | Georgia | 34.2% |
| 29 | Pennsylvania | 34.5% |
| 30 | Montana | 34.5% |
| 31 | North Carolina | 34.7% |
| 32 | Kansas | 35.2% |
| 33 | Delaware | 35.3% |
| 34 | Maine | 35.3% |
| 35 | Hawaii | 35.5% |
| 36 | Oregon | 36.2% |
| 37 | California | 36.5% |
| 38 | Utah | 36.9% |
| 39 | Illinois | 37.2% |
| 40 | Rhode Island | 37.3% |
| 41 | Washington | 38.8% |
| 42 | Minnesota | 38.8% |
| 43 | New York | 39.5% |
| 44 | New Hampshire | 39.8% |
| 45 | Virginia | 41.5% |
| 46 | Connecticut | 41.9% |
| 47 | Vermont | 42.6% |
| 48 | Maryland | 42.7% |
| 49 | New Jersey | 42.9% |
| 50 | Colorado | 44.7% |
| 51 | Massachusetts | 46.6% |
| 52 | District of Columbia | 63.6% |
More on share with a bachelor's degree or higher
- US Counties With the Highest Share with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher
- Share with a bachelor's degree or higher by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.