Size Matters

When it comes to getting guaranteed access to financial literacy education, it appears that the size of the state matters. Our research indicates that students who live in states with small populations often go to public high schools that earned grades of C, D or F in our 2023 report.

Only 10 states in the nation have a population of more than 10 million people. Not one of these very large states is projected to have a grade of less than a B in 2031. In fact, 80 percent of these states are projected to be Grade A states by or before 2031.

Financial Literacy Policy in the 10 Largest States by Population

State	Rank by Population Size (July 2024 Population Estimate)+	Projected High School Financial Literacy Public Policy Grade by 2031*
California	1st (39,431,263)	Grade A
Texas	2nd (31,290,831)	Grade A
Florida	3rd (23,372,215)	Grade A
New York	4th (19,867,248)	Grade B
Pennsylvania	5th (13,078,751)	Grade A
Illinois	6th (12,710,158)	Grade B
Ohio	7th (11,883,304)	Grade A
Georgia	8th (11,180,878)	Grade A
North Carolina	9th (11,046,024)	Grade A
Michigan	10th (10,140,459)	Grade A

+From Wikipedia List of U.S. states and territories by population.
*From our Center’s 2023 National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High Schools™. Three very large states passed laws since that report was issued on 12/01/2023 that has increased those states’ grades to a Grade A by or before 2031: California, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Only 11 states (and the District of Columbia) have populations of less than 1.5 million people. Only a third of these were given Grades A or B in the Center’s 2023 report. Two-thirds received grades of C, D & F in our 2023 report. Interestingly, 3 out of 4 states with A or B grades, in this group of small states, were from New England (Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island).

None of the six states that moved to Grade A from a Grade B, C, D or F since our last 2023 report had populations of less than 1.5 million people. In fact, the smallest of those states was Kentucky, with a population of approximately 4.6 million people (26th largest state by population).

These small states and the District of Columbia all had public high school enrollment in 2022 of less than 60,000 total students. To put this number in perspective, New York City, the largest school district in the nation, has more than 320,000 high school students. Vermont, the state with the fewest enrolled high school students in the nation, provided education to approximately 24,400 public high school students in 2022.

Financial Literacy Policy in the 11 Smallest States (and DC) by Population

State	Rank by Population Size (July 2024 Population Estimate)+	Public High School Enrollment Grades 9 to 12 in 2022**	Projected High School Financial Literacy Public Policy Grade by 2028*
Hawaii	40th (1,446,146)	52,100	Grade D
New Hampshire	41st (1,409,032)	54,210	Grade A
Maine	42nd (1,405,012)	55,447	Grade B
Montana	43rd (1,137,233)	45,378	Grade D
Rhode Island	44th (1,112,308)	44,533	Grade A
Delaware++	45th (1,051,917)	45,134	Grade C
South Dakota	46th (924,669)	42,036	Grade F
North Dakota	47th (796,568)	34,185	Grade B
Alaska	48th (740,133)	38,913	Grade D
District of Columbia	49th (702,250)	21,239	Grade F
Vermont	50th (648,493)	24,384	Grade C
Wyoming	51st (587,618)	29,151	Grade D

+From Wikipedia List of U.S. states and territories by population.
*From our Center’s 2023 National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High Schools™.
** Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and National Center for Education Statistics “Digest for Education Statistics, 2023.” Data from Table 203.30 Public school enrollment in grades 9 through 12. Total enrollment for the US in 2022 was 15,547,146.
++Note, as of the June 30, 2025 the Delaware legislature had overwhelmingly approved a law that would move Delaware to a Grate A state. However, as of the cut-off date of this research, the approved legislation had not been signed into law or vetoed by the governor nor had it gone into law absent the governor’s signature.

Students in most of these small states may be at a financial knowledge and skill disadvantage when they enter college, the workforce or the military after high school. Time will tell if they have the necessary personal finance tools that they need to succeed in life, especially when compared to their peers in other larger states that mandate a substantive personal finance course prior to public high school graduation.

One interesting public policy question for researchers to look into: Why are large states much more likely to require a standalone personal finance course as a graduation requirement than smaller states?

Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and National Center for Education Statistics “Digest for Education Statistics, 2023.” Data from Table 203.30 Public school enrollment in grades 9 through 12. The above chart uses 2022 actual enrollment data. Total enrollment for the US in 2022 was 15,547,146.