Maine and New Hampshire Are Among the Smartest States in the US

I'll be honest. If you told me that Maine and New Hampshire were two of the smartest states in the entire US, I would have questioned it. We're no dummies here in New England, but the smartest in the country? Believe it or not, the data doesn't lie.

Guru99.com took a look at all 50 states and analyzed six different metrics to determine which states in the country are the smartest. They looked at average IQ, graduation rates, percentage of the population with low literacy rates, average SAT scores, and percentage of residents who don’t have a high school diploma or GED per capita. These were then given a score out of 10 and combined to provide a total possible score of 60.  

Three New England states made the top 10 in the country:

7. Maine  

Being the seventh smartest state in the country isn't too bad at all. Maine got here by being one of the states tied for the lowest percentage of its population with no high school diploma or GED at only 5.5%. 13.4% of the population has low literacy, which is below the average of low literacy for the country.

4. Vermont 

Vermont is tied with Maine for the lowest percentage of its population that doesn’t have a high school diploma or GED. Vermont also has good levels of literacy, with 12.8% of residents that have low literacy.  

1. New Hampshire

The smartest state in the country goes to the state where they "Live Free or Die," New Hampshire. They win with the highest IQs in the country at 103.2.  They also have the smallest percent of the population with low literacy skills at 11.5%. New Hampshire shows all the other states how it's done.