Wyoming Has the Worst Ratio of Colleges to Prison in the U.S.
A recent study revealed a baffling statistic for the country and several states, including here in Wyoming. When looking at the number of people incarcerated in every state compared to those that have the education of at least a bachelor's degree. A shocking part of the study found that 75 percent of states in the U.S. have more prisons than they have colleges where you can earn a bachelor's degree. Wyoming happens to have the worst ratio and it's not even close.
The state of Wyoming has 28 prisons and jails compared to just one college or institution where you can earn a bachelor's degree. That one college is of course the University of Wyoming. Technically, that is counted within the study as a 2700 percent difference between places of incarceration and colleges within the state. That's definitely not a great statistic.
The next closest state to Wyoming's ratio was a far cry from the 2700 percent difference as Mississippi had the second-worst ratio with 18 colleges to 92 prisons and jails. While also not a good percentage, it had 411 percent more places of incarceration.
The incarceration rate for Wyoming per 100k residents is 441, which is definitely not the worst in the country. Those with a bachelor's degree or above came in at 30,494 per 100k residents, which is also not the worst and even much better than some states, so there is that.
Massachusetts ended up with the highest rate of educated people in their state with 47,143 with a bachelor's degree or above per 100k residents. Given their esteemed colleges and the fact that their state has 88 of them, that is not much of a shocker.
The worst incarceration rate goes to Louisiana with 695 out of 100k residents being behind bars. That is also another staggering number that came through in the recent study.
As for Wyoming, while the prison/jail to college ratio is by far the worst, it can also be misleading in the fact that Wyoming has the 10th largest state in the area while also having the lowest population. With many rural areas throughout the state, and not so many cities that are meant to be appropriated for college towns, it is far different from almost any other state in the country in that aspect.
And on a lighter note, it also means that the Pokes have quite the wide stretch of a fanbase throughout the entire state. I think we'll take that silver lining.