States With The Highest College Completion Rates

According to new U.S. Census Bureau data, the number of 25-to 34-year-olds who have college degrees around the nation has gradually increased from 2009 to 2011.

The current college attainment rate for the nation is 39.3 percent. However, this would have to increase by 50 percent to fulfill President Obama's goal for America to become first in the world in the percentage of population who have graduated from college by 2020. The U.S. currently places 16th.

According to a state-by-state breakdown by the Census Bureau, here are the top 15 states with the best college completion rates as of 2010. All of them have at least 43 percent of its young residents holding a college degree, but only two states have over 50 percent. D.C., which was included in the study, beat out all of the states with an impressive 68.8 percent.

Loading Slideshow

• Washington D.C.

  82,098 graduates, 68.8% of the population. *Washington, D.C. is not a state, but its figures are included in the data. <strong><em>Clarification: Language has been added to indicate that Washington, D.C., while not a state, was included in the census data.</strong></em>

• Massachusetts

  454,219 graduates, 54.3% of the population

• North Dakota

  43,893 graduates, 50.8% of the population

• Minnesota

  350,909 graduates, 49.8% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMN-NorthrupMall.jpg" target="_hplink">BenFranske</a>

• New York

  1,302,196 graduates, 49.6% of the population

• New Jersey

  520,299 graduates, 47.2% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bishop_House-Rutgers_University.jpg" target="_hplink">Lacwal12</a>

• New Hampshire

  65,715 graduates, 46.0% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Manch-DownTown.jpg" target="_hplink">Mikespenard</a>

• Connecticut

  190,044 graduates, 45.9% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nhskyline_eastshore.jpg" target="_hplink">Versageek</a>

• Iowa

  172,115 graduates, 45.5% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cleary_Walkway_with_the_Old_Capitol_in_the_background,_University_of_Iowa.JPG" target="_hplink">Magnus Manske</a>

• Maryland

  339,891 graduates, 45.5% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMD_stairway.JPG" target="_hplink">Bgervais</a>

• Illinois

  798,362 graduates, 45.3% of the population

• Virginia

  477,103 graduates, 44.6% of the population

• Vermont

  30,737 graduates, 44.5% of the population Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UVM_Old_Mill_building_20040101.jpg" target="_hplink">Redjar</a>

• Nebraska

  107,058 graduates, 44.2% of the population

• Pennsylvania

  654,558 graduates, 43.9% of the population

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Comments

[Poupon]

10:25 PM on 07/30/2012

People spend more time indoors and read more in cold areas than they do in warm areas. Of COURSE they then do better educationally. Research like this is no more accurate than a coin toss, because it doesn't obvious and significant factors like this into consideration. Watching the Housewives is a better use of time than reading these faux studies.

[mira chancleta]

07:58 PM on 07/30/2012

Washington, DC?
Is that a joke?
The only "completions" in that filthy rat-hole of a city are taking place in the backseats of window-tinted pimp-limousines at 3a.m. as they drive past the White House
C'mon!

[Goodtimes702]

07:49 PM on 07/30/2012

All these liberals on here bragging about how smart they are and how smart their states are. Now if they can just figure out how to get an ID so they can vote!

[FredNietzsche]

04:24 PM on 07/30/2012

The figures in the slide show seem rather fishy to me. For example, New York is supposed to have the 5th best completion rate with "1,302,196 graduates, 49.6% of the population". The 2010 census puts NY's population at 19 million, so 1,302,196 doesn't amount to 49.6%. What's going on?

[xxtinaxx128]

04:57 PM on 07/30/2012

The population here represents people ranged from 25-34.

[FredNietzsche]

12:38 PM on 07/31/2012

Thank-you!

[Utopian Sky]

03:55 PM on 07/30/2012

Gee, none of the states in the ultra-conservative deep South made the list,
and just about all of the states in the ultra-liberal North-East did.

I'm not surprised.

[Ayla87]

04:14 PM on 07/30/2012

To be fair, I wouldn't consider Nebraska, Minnesota & North Dakota to be bastions of liberal ideology.

[Utopian Sky]

04:43 PM on 07/30/2012

Minnesota is very Democrat.
As far as Nebraska & North Dakota, the survey did not consider what degree people receive.

[Waubay]

02:58 PM on 07/30/2012

Only four of which are 'right to work' states. Of those four states only one has a sizable population and actually has diversity. Good job Virginia at #12!

[big K little m]

02:01 PM on 07/30/2012

I would like to see the statistics on where these states with the most college graduates are originally from. Some person from a rural farming community with a advanced degree will most likely move to a larger city or another state where they can use their education to make more money. Almost all the college friends of mine are scattered all over the country, they went where the jobs are. Look at Washington DC, with something like 65% with degrees. I am pretty sure most of those were not born anywhere near there.

[ricchh]

12:05 PM on 07/30/2012

Looks like the only smart peeople are in the northeast.

[ninjasrolled]

01:45 PM on 07/30/2012

And the Midwest...Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska.

[m1jones]

11:06 AM on 07/30/2012

Somehow any statistical analysis which compares the graduation rates in North Dakota (how many colleges are in North Dakota and what do they teach?) and Minnesota (Michele Bachmann graduated from college but....) with the graduation rate of Masschusetts (Harvard, MIT, University of Massachusetts, Wellesley College, etc.) is misleading.

The states with the best universities are probably Massachusetts, California, and Texas. The reason is that they have the biggest endowments. All of these three states generate good jobs for highly educated people. North Dakota seems to have a very low unemployment rate since they started fracking for oil. But most of those jobs don't require a college degree.

What did this comparison actually show?

[Moni222]

11:27 AM on 07/30/2012

I don't think that is the point. They are looking at the residents of each state that have a college degree. Many people go out of state to college but then go back to their home state. Their degree counts for their home state not the state where the college they attended is.

For example, this is from Harvard's web site:
Demographics for the class of 2016:
17% are from New England
22% are from the Mid Atlantic
19% are from the South
10% are from the Midwest
21% are from the Western and Mountain states
11% are international or from U.S. territories
http://www.harvard.edu/student-life

[brt929]

04:21 PM on 07/30/2012

California should be on that list, but we can blame the Reagan and Wilson years for that.  Californians worked hard to make school affordable, and all those efforts were destroyed by Republican governors.  

[Cat Turd]

02:49 AM on 07/30/2012

Having a degree doesn't mean your smart. My cousin has a law degree and she's the biggest idiot I know. She can't even see that her own sister is sleeping with her boyfriend of 5 years. Lol!

[brt929]

03:35 PM on 07/30/2012

Wow, and she is lucky to have such a great friend like you!

[Cat Turd]

03:54 PM on 07/30/2012

Cousin.

[Utopian Sky]

03:59 PM on 07/30/2012

No, a bigger idiot would be someone who knows their cousin's sister is sleeping with her boyfriend, and does not tell her.

[Cat Turd]

04:37 PM on 07/30/2012

Well you don't know my cousins. The crap that would be unleashed if I was to tell her...

[LibertarianVoter]

10:41 PM on 07/29/2012

So glad I have my degree and 30,000 dollars of debt without a decent job. Having a degree doesn't mean what it used to mean.

[brt929]

03:38 PM on 07/30/2012

Well as a Libertarian you should appreciate the Free Market principles at work here.  Perhaps you picked the wrong degree.

[Gene Hennigh]

10:37 PM on 07/29/2012

Golly. Why no Arizona? Texas? Georgia? I think the cracker land is being short changed. I was there in Misisipi recently and I didn't notice any dummys.

[Andrea Blackwell]

07:06 PM on 07/30/2012

People learn what they want to know.

[Novangelus9]

09:32 PM on 07/29/2012

This explains why Cash Cab is in New York, they would go broke in Boston.

[brt929]

03:39 PM on 07/30/2012

Massachussetts has some very impressive schools there.  But NY isn't far behind.  

[Thunderball2035]

08:55 PM on 07/29/2012

Some committees gather and decide these nations shall eat and these nations shall starve. One leader said to me;"We want them educated but not too educated." Mr. Peabody of Peabody coal company said about the education of the poor of Appalachia;"If you educate them;They will all leave. I won't have any men to work the mines." Education is one ticket to leveling the playing field. Quality education relevant to skills for progress and some basic common sense are paramount. Throwing money at a problem does not solve the problem. The problem is still there. If America is to be a land of true freedom like Ben Franklin taught; Then education is key to preserving our Republic. Ignorance is the enemy of all mankind.

[mlaiuppa]

07:15 PM on 07/29/2012

Guess they haven't been hit with a deluge of deVry, ITTtech, Coleman, University of Phoenix, Kaplan and anything owned by Bridgepoint.

If it's for profit, it's probably got a high drop out rate and a high percentage of students using GI bill and student loans from the government. For profits are in the business of sucking up public tax dollars.