The True Cost of a High School Degree

How much will that high school degree earn you? According to this guide created by the U.S. Career Institute, having a high school degree helps graduates earns thousands more on average every year than their non-graduate counterparts. The guide, called ‘How Much More High School Graduates Earn Than Non-Graduates in Every State’, breaks down the difference in the median annual earnings between high school graduates and non-graduates in each of the fifty U.S. states. The appropriately colored monochromatic green map makes it easy to see which states have the biggest monetary difference between the salaries of high school graduates and non-graduates living in the state. Connecticut topped the list with an $11,439 difference between the two annual earnings. High school graduates in Connecticut earn an average of $37,365 every year while non-graduates only earn an average of $25,926. Alaska was not far behind Connecticut with a $10,286 difference between the two salaries. Connecticut’s fellow Northeastern states Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York were in the top ten states where high school graduates earned more money. Southern states West Virginia, Louisiana, and Kentucky also made the top ten list. All of the states in the top ten were found to have a difference between the median annual earnings for graduates and non-graduates of at least $7,880. Which states were found at the bottom of the list? Iowa was found to have the smallest difference between the two, although Iowa’s $30,147 median earnings for non-graduates is the third highest in the country after North Dakota and New Hampshire. How big is the difference between high school graduate and non-graduate earnings in your state?

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