May 9, 2025
(Hour)
–
May 9—Connecticut is the 10th best state for education, but its specific PK-12 and higher education ranks are drastically different, according to new rankings by
U.S. News and World Report
.
U.S. News and World Report
released its 2025 Best States rankings this week, in which
Connecticut
was ranked overall as the 15th best state. That rank is based on various categories, including health care, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, natural environment, and education, which has the highest weight out of all the categories.
And the education category looks at data surrounding cost, performance, and graduation and enrollment rates, looking at both PK-12 and higher education.
#10 in Education
Connecticut
was ranked No. 10 overall in the education category, but
U.S. News
also ranked states on PK-12 and higher education separately.
While
Connecticut
secured a spot close to the top for pre-kindergarten through high school, the state was outranked by almost all states in the higher education subcategory.
More News
CT dental providers pay
$600K
to settle 'False Claims Act' allegations, feds say
Advanced
Dental Center
and its owners paid
$495,721.24
to reimburse the Medicaid program...
Norwalk High School
softball coach charged with sexual assaults, police say
A
Norwalk High School
softball coach is accused of "inappropriate behavior and unwanted...
CT woman now accused of abusing 40 dogs in
Norwalk
and
Winsted
, police say
Police say the latest charges are connected with the woman failing to provide enough food...
Norwalk's
$5.1M
drainage improvement project is 'close to 50% done'
"After we are done, it will be a big improvement for the neighborhood,"
Vanessa Valadares
...
Norwalk
man sentenced to 3 years in prison for
Lowe Street
stabbing
The victim in the case was on board with the plea deal, asking only that the defendant...
#3 in pre-kindergarten through high school
Connecticut
came in third place for the pre-k through 12th grade subcategory, which looks at test scores, high school graduation rate, college readiness and preschool enrollment. Only
New Jersey
and
Massachusetts
outrank the state in the PK-12 subcategory.
And according to
U.S. News
,
Connecticut
is the No. 1 best state for preschool enrollment, based on federal data on the percentage of children ages 3 to 4 enrolled in a nursery or preschool program. The top five states in the preschool enrollment metric are all in the Northeast.
Connecticut
was ranked No. 4 for college readiness, No. 5 in National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores, No. 14 in high school graduation rate (which is 88.2%) and No. 17 in National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores.
And
Connecticut's
higher education rank is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the PK-12 rank.
"Northeastern states generally are much better at pre-K-12 than they are at higher education," according to
U.S. News
. "The top 3 states in the pre-K-12 subcategory (
New Jersey
,
Massachusetts
and
Connecticut
) all find themselves in the bottom half of states for higher education. Across the board, these three states rank in the bottom 10 for tuition and fees and debt at graduation."
#48 in higher education
Despite being home to the prestigious
Yale University
, which
U.S. News
ranked as the No. 5 best national university for 2025,
Connecticut
came close to last out of all states for higher education.
At No. 48,
Connecticut
beats only
Louisiana
and
Pennsylvania
for its higher education rank.
The higher education subcategory "comprises metrics reflecting the share of citizens in each state holding college degrees, as well as college graduation rates, the cost of in-state tuition and fees, and the burden of federal student loan debt carried by recipients," according to
U.S. News
.
Connecticut
is ranked No. 5 for educational attainment and No. 16 for 4-year college graduation rate, but ranked No. 47 in multiple metrics including 2-year college graduation rate, low debt at graduation, and low tuition and fees.
According to
U.S. News
, the average debt at graduation in
Connecticut
is
$15,660
, higher than the national average of
$13,720
.
© 2025 The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.). Visit www.thehour.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistribute or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.