State Final Grades: Population and State Percentages

This report card grades each state on five category areas using 59 unique data points from 18 nationally recognized organizations. Based on this data, no state received a final grade of A+ or A. Only 22 states, or 44 percent, received grades of A-, B+, B or B-. Unfortunately, the states that tended to do the best were generally smaller in size, representing just 23 percent of the adult population in this country. More than three quarters of adult Americans (77 percent) reside in states that have a grade of C or lower and more than a quarter (28 percent) live in the 12 states with grades of D or F.

Final State Grades	States	Adult Population	% of US Population 18+	# of States	% of States
A-	Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, Hawaii	7,704,685	3.2%	4	8%
B+	Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, South Dakota	4,463,408	1.9%	4	8%
B	Vermont, Alaska, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Connecticut, Maine, Montana	16,739,491	7.0%	8	16%
B-	Virginia, Kansas, Washington, Idaho, Michigan, Oregon	25,614,247	10.7%	6	12%
C+	Maryland, California, Colorado, New York	52,677,818	22.0%	4	8%
C	New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Rhode Island, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arizona	51,631,903	21.5%	9	18%
C-	Nevada, Tennessee, North Carolina	14,531,201	6.1%	3	6%
D+	South Carolina, Kentucky, New Mexico, West Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Florida	51,909,070	21.6%	7	14%
D	Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana	12,303,313	5.1%	4	8%
F	Mississippi	2,240,984	0.9%	1	2%

Final State Grades	Adult Population (18+ years)	% of Adult Population Residing in these States	% of States	# of States
Grades A-, B+, B and B-	54, 521, 831	23%	44%	22
Grades C+, C, C-, D+, D, D- and F	185, 294, 289	77%	56%	28

Source: 2010-2014 American Community Survey, 5 year estimates, 2014 data, US Census Bureau