Chuck Campbell

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Tennesseans are lagging behind most other Americans in the amount and quality of education they get, according to a new survey.

The state ranks as the No. 8 least-educated state in the U.S. according to WalletHub, a financial-oriented website that compiles rankings of U.S. states and cities based on the social and economic well-being of their residents.

The education survey, released today, measured 11 metrics to come up with the rankings – including the percentage of residents with high-school diplomas as well as those with associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The survey also factors in the quality of education based on U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of public-school systems as well as their ranking of the top 200 U.S. universities.

Tennessee is No. 39 overall for the subcategory of “quality of education and attainment gap,” thanks in part to its No. 35 ranking for “average university quality.” But the state only mustered a No. 43 ranking for both the subcategory “education attainment rank” and the survey as a whole.

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Massachusetts finished as the No. 1 most-educated state in the WalletHub survey, followed by No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Colorado. West Virginia is America’s least-educated state, according to the survey, and Southern states hold 12 of the bottom 15 positions – including No. 49 Mississippi and No. 48 Louisiana.

Virginia was an exception to the low rankings of Southern states, placing No. 7, but the next-best ranking from the region was Georgia at No 35.

Most-educated states

1.Massachusetts

2.Maryland

3.Colorado

4.Connecticut

5.Vermont

6.New Hampshire

7.Virginia

8.Minnesota

9.Washington

10.New Jersey

Least-educated states

41.Oklahoma

42.Texas

43.Tennessee

44.Alabama

45.Nevada

46.Kentucky

47.Arkansas

48.Louisiana

49.Mississippi

50.West Virginia

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