Education

 With only 11 states currently offering universal pre-K education, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2025's States with the Best & Worst Early Education Systems, as well as expert commentary.

In order to determine the best early education systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program to the number of pre-K quality benchmarks met and total reported spending per child enrolled in pre-K.
 

States with the Best Early Education Systems	States with the Worst Early Education Systems
1. Maryland	42. Indiana
2. District of Columbia	43. Hawaii
3. Arkansas	44. Minnesota
4. New Jersey	45. Wyoming
5. New Mexico	46. North Dakota
6. Oregon	47. Massachusetts
7. West Virginia	48. Idaho
8. South Carolina	49. Montana
9. Vermont	50. New Hampshire
10. Michigan	51. Missouri

 
Best vs. Worst

• 15 states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and South Carolina, have the highest share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program, which is 6.5 times higher than in Alaska, the state with the lowest.
   
• The District of Columbia has the highest share of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, pre-K Special Education or Head Start programs, which is 8.6 times higher than in Idaho, the state with the lowest.
   
• Connecticut has the highest income requirement for state pre-K eligibility, which is 4.1 times higher than in Washington, which has one of the lowest.
   
• The District of Columbia has the highest total spending per child enrolled in preschool, which is 8.3 times higher than in Florida, which has one of the lowest.
   
• The District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Vermont and Idaho have some of the lowest monthly child care co-payment fees (as a share of family income), which is ten times lower than in Kentucky and North Carolina, the states with the highest.