Which Western State Has More High School Dropouts: CA vs ID

It’s graduation season across the United States. High schools and colleges are saying goodbye to their graduating classes and wishing them luck in their future endeavors.

But, not everyone who starts the path of education graduates. Some dropout for a variety of reasons and others don’t earn the grades required to move on with a diploma. And one of the states in the West is the worst in the nation for high school graduates. Is it California or Idaho?

CA vs ID: This Western State Has the Most High School Dropouts

When you look at the western states, there are 2 that stand out as polar opposites: California and Idaho. California is this beautiful state filled with famous people and miles of beaches while some people don’t even know where Idaho is or don’t believe it exists. California seems to be pretty forward moving in technology fields and Idaho is more about the potato fields.

But, that’s the surprising information revealed in a recent study on education in the United States. Idaho does really well and California is, well, the worst.

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Newsweek compiled a bunch of stats and information on education and graduation rates, complete with an interactive map from the Wisevoter site using data from the United States Census Bureau. It shows where each state ranks, percentage wise, in high school graduates. Idaho has a rather impressive graduation rate at 91.26 percent while California is dead last at 84.45 percent.

Every other state has a higher graduation rate than California. But, that doesn’t mean the other states are smarter or getting better education. Using even more data we learn that West Virginia, with a graduation rate of nearly 89 percent, is the least-educated state. California, despite the high number of high school dropouts, ranks 29th. That still isn’t good enough to beat Idaho though. They ranked 37th on the list.