San Antonio ranks as one the least educated big cities in the nation

A recent report by an online personal finance blog ranked the Austin area — the metro with the highest median income in Texas — as one of the 10 most-educated cities in the United States.

However, the San Antonio metro, with a median income below the state average, ranked as one of the nation's least-educated.

WalletHub’s 2022 Most and Least Educated Cities report compared the 150 most-populated metropolitan areas, ranking them using 11 metrics such as the quality of education, summer learning opportunities and level of educational attainment. Of the categories, the latter was weighted most heavily.

Austin ranked as the best-educated city in Texas, and at No. 10 for the nation. At 73 and 88 respectively, Dallas and Houston didn’t even rank in the top 50 nationally. San Antonio came in at No. 105, making it the least educated metro with more than 1 million people in Texas.

Clearly, a low level of educational attainment unique to the Alamo City. Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke touched on the state's low educational attainment during a July campaign fundraiser in San Antonio.

“In Texas, by and large, and relative to the rest of the world, we don’t invest in this stuff,” the Democrat said. “You look at a 4th grade classroom, and seven out of 10 kids cannot read at grade level. When you look at folks that come into this state from any other country on the planet, or any other state in the union, they’re twice as likely to have a post-secondary education.”

O'Rourke added: “They’re eating our lunch; they compete for the jobs that we’re creating here in the State of Texas."

WalletHub’s report ranking U.S. cities on education comes mere weeks after the Texas Workforce Commission released its annual report on wage growth in metro areas across the Lone Star State.

In that report, workers in Austin metro posted the state's highest median wages at $46,910. Workers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels earned a median salary of just $37,957, below the state median income and far behind both the Dallas and Houston metros.

According to U.S Census Bureau data, the Alamo City is also one of the most impoverished metro areas in America. More than 14% of the population lives below the poverty line.

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