Illinois lags Midwest in study of most educated cities in America

[July 19, 2022]  By Andrew Hensel | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A new report ranks 150 cities across the country by certain metrics to determine which are the most educated and what cities are considered the least educated. Illinois finishes with five cities on the list, but lags the Midwest. 

The report by WalletHub ranked the states by two main metrics, educational attainment and quality, according to John Kiernan of WalletHub.

"We looked at the percentage of people with high school degrees, college degrees, and we also looked at things like the quality of public schools and universities, as well as achievement gaps between gender, race, and income level," Kiernan said.

Illinois had five cities on the list, with the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area finishing the highest on the list of Illinois cities at number 31.

Peoria (97), Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL (108), and Rockford (131) also all made the list. However, Kiernan said that while Illinois has several cities listed, they are still struggling to keep up with neighboring states.

"We had Ann Arbor, Michigan finish top overall in our study, and we also had Madison, Wisconsin that came in 4th," Kiernan said. "So there is still some work to catch those states for Illinois."

St. Paul, Minnesota and Lansing, Michigan also ranked higher than Illinois' top ranking.
 

Andrew Hensel has years of experience as a reporter and pre-game host for the Joliet Slammers, and as a producer for the Windy City Bulls. A graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University and Illinois Media School, Andrew lives in the south suburbs of Chicago.