INDIANAPOLIS — A new study revealed that people living in Hamilton County, Indiana have the highest average math proficiency in the U.S.
According to the study from Excel Teams, Hamilton County received an average score of 285.7, which is 14.7% higher than the national average. Los Amos County, New Mexico came in with the second-highest score at 285.1, and Douglas County, Colorado came in with the third-highest score at 284.8.
However, overall as a state, Indiana scored 30th for highest average math proficiency in the U.S.
The three states with the lowest score level were Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico.
"Discovering the numeracy skills across the U.S. provides a fascinating insight into not only the quality of math education in schools, but also how technology may be eradicating our need for numeracy skills," said Puneet Gogia, Excel and data analytics expert. "It is important to note that this study does not reflect how intelligent or skilled the residents in each state are but does potentially highlight broader socio-economic disparities between regions."
Excel Champs said their team analyzed the National Center for Education Statistics between 2012 and 2017 to identify the U.S. states and counties with the highest and lowest math proficiency scores.
The data surveyed 12,330 adults between 16 and 74 for numeracy and literary proficiency, officials said. A score between 226 and 276 shows that adults are "nearing proficiency but still struggling to perform numeracy tasks." And a score below 226 “can be considered at risk for difficulties with numeracy."
