The 10 Worst Dropout Cities (2024)

Bad schools translate into high dropout rates. And those rates lead to depressed lifelong incomes. The Daily Beast crunches the numbers to determine the 10 cities that have lowest-percentages of high-school graduates. Plus, read more on Giving Beast, our new philanthropy site.

Fifteen percent of American high schools, known as “dropout factories,” produce more than half of American dropouts. Research shows these schools are clustered in California, the Southwest, and the Old South. Now a new Census analysis by The Daily Beast demonstrates that regions with poor schools are lifelong magnets for high-school dropouts, and suffer from stagnant economies and rock-bottom salaries.

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In second place was McAllen, Texas, the same city The New Yorker found had the highest health-care costs in the nation—devastating for residents who typically earn just $17,127 each year.

Four metropolitan areas in California rank among the highest in the country for high-school dropouts, according to our analysis of the 2008 Census data. Bakersfield, California, has the most high-school dropouts in the country for metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 people. Roughly 16 percent of the Bakersfield population over 18 does not have a high-school diploma. Using the same population threshold, the Bakersfield area also ranked fifth lowest in the nation for median individual annual earnings, with $24,228 earned yearly by workers there.

“Unfortunately, those areas are struggling in terms of every possible indicator that has to do with kids and poverty and education,” says Ellen Winn, director of the Education Equality Project. High-school students who drop out this year will miss out on about $335 billion in wages during their lives, according to an August report from the Alliance for Excellent Education, a secondary-education advocacy organization. And dropouts tend also to be more adversely affected by economic declines. The national unemployment rate for high-school dropouts was 15 percent in September 2009, compared to 4.9 percent for people with higher education degrees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Plus, Alma Powell on why the dropout problem matters.

Clark Merrefield is a reporter, researcher and writer based in New York.

The 10 Worst Dropout Cities (2024)

FAQs

What state has the most dropouts? ›

California, Texas and New York are among the states with the highest number of high school dropouts, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.

Who has the highest dropout rates from high school? ›

California, Texas and New York are among the states with the highest percentage of high school dropouts, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.

What is the highest number of dropouts? ›

Odisha and Bihar are the worst performing states, with 49.9% and 42.1% dropout rates respectively. The Ministry of Education shared state-wise dropout rates for the last four years, highlighting ten states with rates higher than the national average.

How many high school dropouts are poor? ›

In 2022, about 4.3 percent of the people with a Bachelor's degree or higher were living below the poverty line in the United States. This is far below the poverty rate of those without a high school diploma which was 25.2 percent in 2021.

What school has the lowest graduation rate? ›

The Latest Lowest Graduation Rate College Statistics Explained
  • Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota recorded a graduation rate of just 4% in 2020. ...
  • Sitting Bull College in North Dakota had a graduation rate of 19% in 2020. ...
  • The graduation rate for White students in colleges and universities stood at 64% in 2019.
Feb 7, 2024

What is the hardest state to graduate high school? ›

New Mexico is the state with the lowest graduation rate, with only 77% of students graduating high school. Arizona is the second state with the lowest graduation rate with 77% of students graduating high school as well.

What race is most likely to drop out of school? ›

Based on data from the ACS, the status dropout rate in 2016 was lower for individuals who were Asian (2.0 percent) than for those who were White (4.5 percent) and of Two or more races (4.8 percent), and the rates for all three groups were lower than the rates for Pacific Islander (6.9 percent), Black (7.0 percent), ...

What race is more likely to drop out of school? ›

In Model 1 (race/ethnicity only), Asians were 43% less likely to drop out and Pacific Islanders were similarly likely to drop out compared to their White student peers. American Indian (40%), Black (71%), Hispanic (148%), and Multiracial students (64%) were all more likely to drop out than their White student peers.

Which race has the lowest dropout rate? ›

Among the remaining racial/ethnic groups, dropout rates were lowest for Asian and highest for American Indian/Alaska Native 16- to 24-year-olds, with differing rates as follows: Asian (2.1 percent) White (4.1 percent) Two or more races (4.9 percent)

What percentage of dropouts go to jail? ›

Every year approximately 1.3 million students – THAT's 7,000 every school day – do not graduate from high school as scheduled. About 75 percent of America's state prison inmates, almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school.

Can dropouts still be successful? ›

Is it possible to drop out of high school and succeed? Yes! Just because you didn't finish high school in a traditional manner, doesn't mean you lack the intellect and skills needed to succeed. Taking an alternate road to higher education and a career you love may not be easy, but it is possible.

How many dropouts become criminals? ›

Of all of the males in federal and state prisons, 80 percent do not have a high school diploma. There is a direct correlation with a lack of high school education and incarceration. One in ten male dropouts between the ages of 16 to 24 are either in prison or in juvenile detention.

Is graduating high school at 19 bad? ›

Originally Answered: Is it normal to graduate high school on your 19th birthday? No, that's very unusual. Assuming most students graduate at 18 or 19, the odds of graduating exactly on your birthday are something like 1:630, or 1:631 if either is a leap year. However, it's certainly not a bad thing.

How many billionaires are high school drop outs? ›

In 2019, 34 billionaire dropouts were reported all over the world. This number relates to 1.7 percent of people who were no longer part of global billionaire population.

Can high school dropouts become millionaires? ›

There are plenty of success stories circulating about regular people who dropped out of high school and became millionaires. However, it's also worth noting that 81% of the Forbes 400 wealthiest people hold college degrees.

What state has the lowest graduation rate? ›

At the other end of the spectrum, some states had significantly lower averages. In D.C., the average high school graduation rate was nearly 73% in the 2021-2022 academic year, the lowest of any state. Other states with lower graduation rates – under 78% – include New Mexico, Arizona and Alaska.

Which category of the U.S. population has the highest dropout rate? ›

American Indian/Alaska Native youth had the highest status dropout rate (10.1 percent) of all racial/ ethnic groups, including youth who were Hispanic (8.2 percent), Black (6.5 percent), of Two or more races (4.5 percent), White (4.3 percent), Pacific Islander (3.9 percent), and Asian (2.1 percent; figure 2.1 and table ...

Where do most high school dropouts end up? ›

Of all of the males in federal and state prisons, 80 percent do not have a high school diploma. There is a direct correlation with a lack of high school education and incarceration. One in ten male dropouts between the ages of 16 to 24 are either in prison or in juvenile detention.

Does the U.S. have a high dropout rate? ›

Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That's a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day. About 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time.

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