Indiana Named One of America’s Least-Educated States

Education is such an important resource as it can have a profound effect on the outcomes of our careers, lives and the future of the country. Maybe just as importantly, it can have a huge impact on your wallet.

Of course, intelligence and education don't always correlate - after all, some places are simply more blue-collar or apply their smarts through a means that isn't always quite understood by those with more academic prowess. Still, if the resources are present to have a great education, the resources are likely there to have a great career that pays well.

Unfortunately, for the state of Indiana, this isn't the case.

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According to a study from WalletHub, Indiana is the 10th least-educated state in the entire country, sharing proximity with notably uneducated states like Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia. The frustrating aspect of Indiana performing so poorly in the study overall is that the state actually has the 11th-best quality of education in America, so something is getting lost in the middle.

In fact, Indiana's quality of education ranked higher than Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Illinois. All of these states, except Kentucky, ranked higher than Indiana in the overall study. No other state that ranked in the bottom 10 overall had the quality of their education ranked in the top 20.

Despite having high-quality schooling available, only eight states ranked worse than Indiana when it comes to the number of adults 25 and older with diplomas or degrees, which weighed heavier in calculating the scores for the study.

But again, Indiana is a fairly rural, blue-collar state. A lot of people in the state work with their hands so the need for a degree isn't always necessary. Unfortunately, not all of those hard workers are seeing the benefits of their labor in their bank accounts.

For Indiana, the median annual household income is ranked 35th in the country, with households bringing home $67,173 annually according to the 2022 Census. According to WalletHub, people with college degrees typically earn around $600 to $1,200 more per week than those with just a high school diploma.