Don’t worry – when we’ve created this list of 10 dumbest states in America, we haven’t had that old, funny movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’ in mind. It’s not that “Jim Carrey kind of dumb” that we’ve considered. So, let’s get to the point – what we have created is a list of 10 states in America that have the lowest level of education. And by this education, we mean the percentage of people who have at least a bachelor’s degree. While the abovementioned movie represents dumbness in a quite different manner, by this list we wished nothing more than just to sort over the states with the lowest percentage of people with a higher education. If you are curious about the opposite side of the road, go through our list of 10 smartest states in America.
There could be many reasons why this list of America’s dumbest states it is the way it is, but please note that this is not because of the level of intelligence of the population. (If you are interested in intelligence ranking lists, you can find out which are the 34 smartest countries in the World.)Intelligence need not to be the reason for this, even though it is necessary for one to be intelligent in some level in order to successfully finish your studies. Let’s look at this simply and logically: if there are more job positions in your country that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, would you consider going to college? Would you really go through all that trouble and hard time that students usually go through during studies, even if you have a chance to get a good job without that? Yes, we are sure that there are many people who would prefer choosing education instead of a job position, but there are those who wouldn’t; also, sometimes for a number of people this is not a question of choice – they are simply not in the situation that allows them to further proceed with their education. It is often the case that the low level of education is correlated with poverty, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this list is the way it is just because of financial reasons or due to the number of universities per state. To find out which states have the lowest level of college-educated people, we’ve relied upon statistic information from the 2009 Census. Now, let’s get started – 10 dumbest states in America, in reverse order, are:
10. Tennessee
Tennessee has two biggest industries: agriculture and manufacturing.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 23,0%
9. Oklahoma
Oklahoma is known for its agricultural products, but even more as a producer of natural gas oil. Besides that, the state is investing in aviation, biotechnology, telecommunications, etc.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 22,7%
8. Indiana
Indiana is often an amazing host of big sporting manifestations and is well known for its great teams in various sports; its main production revolves around coal.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 22,5%
7. Alabama
Alabama or the Yellowhammer state, mainly depends on its agriculture.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 22,0%
6. Nevada
Known for its liberal laws, it is also the fourth-largest producer of gold in the entire world.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 21,8%
5. Louisiana
This state is famous for its petrochemical production facilities and natural gas processing plants, but also for its production of sweet potatoes, pecans, cotton, rice, and sugar cane.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 21,4%
4. Kentucky
Kentucky or the Bluegrass State, known for its government, which is based on the common consent of the people (the ‘commonwealth’ state), has a wide-range production of motor vehicles and similar transport equipment.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 21,0%
3. Mississippi
Mmm, those tasty catfish probably come from there, as this state supplies most of the USA with it. Besides farm-raised catfish, this state named after a river is also known for cotton cultivation.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 19,6%
2. Arkansas
If you’ve ever wondered which state in America is the biggest producer of turkeys or rice, now you have your answer. Besides that it is also known as the state that has strongly developed aquaculture and tourism, that’s why we call it ‘The natural state’.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 18,9%
And the dumbest state in America is West Virginia!
West Virginia is very well known not only for its coal-mining regions, but also for its extensively developed tourism industry.
Percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 17,3%
We hope you liked this list of 10 dumbest states in America!
