Population by Grades and State Percentages

Percent of Public High School Population by Grades

States that have a personal finance instruction graduation requirement that is estimated at 15 or more hours of instruction are clearly making this type of instruction an important part of their students’ education. Only 22% of states meet this standard, but the good news is that this rigorous standard exists in some fairly large states, meaning that approximately 38% of the public high school student population must meet the standard.

Personal Finance Hours of Instruction in High School Public High School Student Population* Percentage of Public High School Students Resident in These States ** Percentage of States (and D.C.) Number of States (and D.C.)
Grades A, B+ and B: States requiring 15 to 60 hours of personal finance instruction 5,668,870 37.9% 21.6% 11 States
Grades B-, C, D and F: States requiring less than 15 hours in personal finance instruction 7,994,848 53.5% 68.6% 35 States
Grade B states where it is not possible to estimate the number of hours of instruction required by the state 1,279,169 8.6% 9.8% 5 States

*Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and National Center for Education Statistics "Digest of Education Statistics, 2017." Actual enrollment numbers are from 2014.
**May not equal 100% due to rounding.

Making the Grade: Population and State Percentages

Grade State Public High School Student Population* Percentage of Public High School Population in the United States ** Number of States (and D.C.) Percentage of States (and D.C.)
A Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and Utah 1,340,000 9.0% 5 States 9.8%
B+ Florida, Georgia, Illinois and West Virginia 2,026,672 13.6% 4 States 7.8%
B New York and Texas 2,302,198 15.4% 2 States 3.9%
B- Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina and South Carolina 2,040,089 13.7% 8 States 15.7%
B (local control) Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, North Dakota and Ohio 1,279,169 8.6% 5 States 9.8%
C Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington 2,215,482 14.8% 12 States 23.5%
D Louisiana, Montana, Vermont and Wyoming 289,677 1.9% 4 States 7.8%
F Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Wisconsin 3,449,600 23.1% 11 States 21.6%

*Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and National Center for Education Statistics "Digest of Education Statistics, 2017." Actual enrollment numbers are from 2014.
**May not equal 100% due to rounding.