3 IL cities ranked below US average for education. How did the metro-east fare?
Three Illinois cities and metropolitan areas were recently ranked below the national average in a report on education.
Financial publication WalletHub’s June 29 report, “Most & Least Educated Cities in America (2026),” evaluated the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. on 11 education-related metrics, including share of adults with a high school diploma, proportion of college-educated adults, public school system quality and more.
The analysis found Peoria, Rockford and the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Illinois metropolitan area all landed below 90th place out of the 150 ranked areas. Chicago landed in 35th place, and the metro-east and St. Louis areas were not far behind.
WalletHub reported the St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois metropolitan area earned a 47th place ranking. The metro area included the city of St. Louis, the city of Sullivan and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln and Warren counties in Missouri, as well as Illinois’ St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Jersey, Macoupin, Clinton, Bond and Calhoun counties.
“Cities aim to attract highly educated workers because they help drive economic growth and boost tax revenues. In general, higher education levels translate into higher salaries and as earnings rise, so do long-term tax contributions,” WalletHub’s analysis reads.
Peoria landed in 91st place, while the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island area landed in 108th and Rockford was in 131st place.
The report used sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Greatschools.org, Yelp and WalletHub research to compare the cities.
Where did the St. Louis, metro-east area excel?
The St. Louis and metro-east area performed particularly well in educational attainment measures, but didn’t score as well for the quality of public school systems. Here’s an overview of the metro area’s performance, from WalletHub:
- Share of adults age 25 and older with a high school diploma: ranked 13th
- Share of adults age 25 and older with some college experience: ranked 36th
- Share of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree: ranked 50th
- Share of adults age 25 and older with a graduate or professional degree: ranked 41st
- Quality of public school systems: ranked 148th
- Average quality of universities: ranked 22nd
- Number of summer learning opportunities per capita: ranked 46th
- Racial education gap: ranked 82nd
- Gender education gap: ranked 120th
How have metro-east schools scored?
The Illinois Report Card is a tool developed by the Illinois State Board of Education to evaluate schools, districts and statewide performance related to educational goals.
Among the performance indicators is a “summative designation” used to measure progress in academic performance and student success, according to ISBE. Factors considered include college and career readiness, math performance, literacy rates and more.
Here’s a roundup of six metro-east high schools and the summative designations they received:
- Belleville High School-East: Commendable school (a school with no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate higher than 67% and school performance that is not in the top 10% statewide)
- Belleville High School-West: Commendable school
- East St. Louis Senior High School: Commendable school
- Freeburg Community High School: Exemplary school (in the top 10% statewide with no underperforming student groups)
- Mascoutah High School: Exemplary school
- O’Fallon High School: Commendable school
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