Sept. 15, 2026, 5:02 a.m. MT
Colorado’s K-12 schools are near the nation’s best for quality, but their safety issues are among the worst in the nation, according to a new study.
WalletHub ranked Colorado’s public school system 27th in the country, a middling ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It was 11th in the U.S. for quality but 46th for safety. Its 24th-place ranking for per pupil spending made it one of nine states to be highlighted for what WalletHub called high spending and weak overall schools.
“Getting enough funding is essential for a productive school system, but simply having more money doesn’t guarantee success,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report. “How funds are applied also plays a big role in how good a school system is, as does the quality of educators, other professionals and the curriculum. In addition, schools need to focus not just on test scores but also on making sure that students feel safe, comfortable and cared for.”
WalletHub focused on K-12 schools, so many of the factors that made Colorado the top state for education by one measure, such as the quality of its colleges, were not part of the study.
The study used 15 metrics to put together the school quality rankings, using test performance, certain awards, and graduation and dropout rates, among other data points. Colorado’s only standout ranking was for reading scores, placing third in the U.S.
Overall, WalletHub ranked Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, respectively, as having the best school systems in the country. It gave the lowest marks to New Mexico, Alaska and Oklahoma.
On the safety side, WalletHub used 17 metrics to create those rankings, including disciplinary and violent incidents, access to illegal drugs and perceptions of safety. The report did not say how Colorado fared by those measures individually.
States with the highest school quality rankings
The majority of the top-rated schools were in the northeastern U.S.:
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Connecticut
- New Hampshire
- Wisconsin
- New York
- Vermont
- North Dakota
- Virginia
- Rhode Island
States with the lowest school safety ratings
The schools with lower school safety rankings were largely in the south, plains and interior west of the U.S.:
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- Louisiana
- Kansas
- Colorado
- Oregon
- Tennessee
- Idaho
- Georgia
Nate Trela covers trending news in Colorado and Utah for the USA TODAY Network, with an emphasis on consumer finance, legal issues and state laws.
