Chattanooga ranks among the bottom quartile of U.S. cities and the worst among Tennessee's four major cities in the education of its population, according to a study released Monday.
In a new assessment of America's most and least educated cities by the financial website WalletHub, Chattanooga ranked as 114th most educated city among the top 150 U.S. cities. Chattanooga rated in the bottom third of cities with 12.5% of its population lacking a high school diploma and 42.4% of all Chattanooga adults over the age of 25 lacking any college degree or associate's degree. Among cities in the Mid-South included in the educational ranking, Huntsville, Alabama ranked No. 24, Atlanta ranked No. 26, Nashville ranked No. 45, Birmingham, Alabama ranked 81, Knoxville ranked No. 91 and Memphis ranked No. 106.
Most educated cities
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. San Jose, California
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco
5. Madison, Wisconsin
Source: WalletHub study of educational achievement and quality in top 150 cities based upon 11 key metrics. The least educated major cities, in order, are Visalia, California, Brownsville, Texas, and McAllen Texas.