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…