These States Produce The Least Amount Of High School Grads

How does your state stack up?

U.S. News recently released its yearly statistics on high school graduation rates, and the results are looking much more positive than in years past. The highest graduation rate is an astounding 92% (shoutout to Virginia), and plenty of schools saw big jumps, like California.

But who didn’t do so great this year? Statistics are based on the amount of students who start high school and graduate on time four years later. Each state has different educational requirements to graduate. Scroll to see who the bottom five were this year.

5. Idaho: 80.1%

While slightly above the national average of 79%, Idaho falls into fifth place with a strong 80.1% graduation rate. Anything above that is an accomplishment, but it just so happened that Idaho ranked as “best of the worst” for the previous school year.

4. Alaska: 77.9%

Falling just a bit below average in fourth place is Alaska with a graduation rate of 77.9%. Now that we’re getting below the national average, these are the states that are going to be struggling with preparing their students for graduating on time.

3. Arizona: 76.6%

In third place is Arizona, which has continually struggled with its high school graduation rate over the recent years. Although the graduation rate in Arizona has been declining, this is the first year in a while that the state has seen a slight increase.

2. New Mexico: 76%

New Mexico is in a similar situation as Arizona. The graduation rate has been steadily declining in the past decade, leaving the state having one of the lowest graduation rates in the country despite many efforts to increase it.

1. Washington D.C.: 72.6%

Shockingly below average compared to the rest of the United States, Washington D.C. produces the least amount of high school graduates out of all the other states. It’s surprising to see the nation’s capital falling so far behind the national average.

Click here to see the full list.

Wondering how colleges stacked up in their rankings this year? See who really stood out!