South Carolina Is The 9th Least Educated State In The U.S., Study Says

This week, WalletHub released a study that ranked South Carolina as the 9th least educated state in the United States.

The study compared all 50 states across various metrics including access to education, school quality and achievement gaps.

The study results are no surprise to anyone keeping an eye on South Carolina education in recent years. However, the Palmetto State did move up two spots from last year’s education ranking.

Click the map below to see how SC compares to other states

WalletHub researchers found that South Carolina has one of the worst school systems in the U.S.

South Carolina public education was not in a good position at the start of this pandemic — consistently ranking among the worst in the U.S — and a recent study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic made it much worse, especially for certain grade levels and subjects.

Like South Carolina’s pre-pandemic education issues, money is not the problem here.

Before the pandemic, South Carolina taxpayers were paying a whopping $11.2 billion each year for its chronically failing public education system.

Using 18 metrics examining education, the WalletHub’s study found that South Carolina ranked:

• 36^th – % of high-school diploma holders
• 39^th – % of associate’s degree holders or college-experienced adults
• 37^th – % of bachelor’s degree holders
• 35^th – % of graduate- or professional-degree holders
• 25^th – Average university quality
• 41^st – Racial gap in educational attainment
• 48^th – gender gap in educational attainment

Notice the last metric — 48th for gender gap in educational attainment.

If you pay attention to South Carolina’s national standings, many of the Palmetto State’s worst rankings are in categories that have to do with women.

In fact, 2020 Wallethub studies ranked South Carolina as the 6th worst state for women, the 2nd worst state to have a baby, and the 4th worst state for working moms.

According to data collected by WalletHub, South Carolina ranked:

• 36th for female workers’ median earnings ($27,360)
• 42nd for affordability of doctor’s visits
• 42nd for percentage of women living in poverty (17.50%)
• 45th for high school graduation rate of women (79.5 %)
• 43rd for female homicide rate
• 43rd for women’s life expectancy at birth.

Yikes.

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