WalletHub recently released its 2026 Most & Least Educated Cities in America report, which compares the nation’s 150 largest metropolitan areas using 11 metrics, including the share of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The report found that the Visalia metro area ranked near the bottom in several educational attainment measures and placed last overall among the 150 metropolitan areas analyzed.
Following the report’s release, local educators and community leaders said the ranking reflects long-standing challenges in higher education access throughout the region.
“This ranking is a reflection of the educational profile of our region,” Visalia Unified School District Superintendent Kirk Shrum said.
Metrics such as the percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees and the availability of local four-year universities weigh heavily in the rankings, Shrum added.
“What I see every day are dedicated educators, supportive families, and students who are achieving at high levels and creating opportunities for themselves and for the future of our community,” he said. “Many of our graduates go on to pursue higher education and careers in communities across California and beyond, and we are proud of the impact they continue to make wherever their paths lead.”
Other local leaders echoed Shrum’s assessment.
“If you look at those different lists that pop up on social media, Visalia’s actually listed on the top in a lot of them, like best places to retire, most affordable communities, fastest growing,” Visalia Mayor Brett Taylor said. “It seems like we’re always at the bottom of the least educated list.”
Like Shrum, Taylor pointed to the metrics used in the report.
“When you talk about Visalia, we are the largest metro area that does not have a four-year state-funded college, and one of the biggest pains of our community is we have this giant brain drain,” he said. “All these young kids, they go to college, they start dating, they get established, get a job, and a lot of them don’t come back.”
Taylor believes that the new University Center currently under construction on the expanded College of the Sequoias campus in Visalia will raise the area’s ranking in future reports.
“We’re now going to have our four-year campus right here so those folks aren’t going to have to leave,” he said. “They’re going to have the opportunity to stay here. Hopefully in the future, this won’t be an issue, and we won’t be anywhere near that list because of that COS four-year campus project.”
COS President Brent Calvin said it was a “shame” that the region had to defend against the report.
“Counties in the San Joaquin Valley that account for much of our entire country’s produce have an inordinate percentage of their population that migrated here from other countries as adults to pursue work in the agricultural industry,” he said. “The metrics of this ‘survey’ however, focus heavily on the percentage of residents 25 and older that hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
“For a more apples-to-apples comparison with non-agricultural cities, the survey should focus on the population that actually grew up here and had the opportunity to go through our school systems,” he continued. “That would produce far different, and more meaningful, results.”
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