A new map showcases which U.S. states have the highest IQ, offering insight into the intellectual landscape of the nation and the socio-economic factors that play a role in determining intelligence.
Measures of IQ – or Intelligence Quotient – assess a range of cognitive abilities and attempt to quantify these into a two-to-three digit score.
While these tests have come under scrutiny for their failure to perfectly capture true intelligence – neglecting other metrics such as creativity or social acumen – IQ is still widely viewed as correlating with one's overall brainpower.
According to the global rankings of Data Pandas, Japan leads the way with an average IQ of 106.48. The rest of the top ten spots are held by other East Asian countries and handful of European nations.
America sits in spot 29, with an average IQ of 97.43, slightly below the 100-mark average set in most tests.
Drawing on public data from IQ tests, SAT and ACT scores, Data Pandas created a ranking of U.S. states by their average IQ, seen here on a map created by Newsweek.
Topping the list is Massachusetts, with an average IQ of 104.3, six points above the national average of 98.
The state is renowned for its academic institutions, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard regularly crowning lists of the top U.S. universities.
According to recent analysis by WalletHub, The Bay State also boasts the best public school systems in the U.S., and the country's fourth lowest dropout rate.
2022 analysis by USAFacts and Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab found that Massachusetts also invests heavily in its students, with the state ranking at number six and spending a median of $17,136 on each student per year, $5,000 more than the national average.
New Hampshire, which is two places above Massachusetts on the student expenditure ranking, has the second highest average IQ in the nation at 104.2, only missing out on the top spot by 0.1 points.
In third place sits North Dakota, with an average IQ of 103.8, and the remainder of the top ten is rounded out by other states in the Upper Midwest and New England.
Intelligence Quotient is a personal favorite metric of Donald Trump, who has frequently espoused his own intelligence - deeming his IQ "one of the highest" - while criticizing his detractors.
In 2013, Trump corrected a Twitter user who said that his IQ fell "somewhere between Barack Obama and G.W. Bush," responding that it was, in fact, "much higher than both."
However, the former President has never disclosed the results of any IQ tests he may have taken, and his home state of New York sits at number 26 in the Data Pandas ranking, with an average score of 100.7
On the bottom end of the rankings is Mississippi, with an average IQ of 94.2.
Mississippi is number 43 on WalletHub's list of the nation's best school systems.
Mississippi also has the misfortune of being America's poorest states, according to the Center for American Progress, with 19.2 percent of its residents living below the poverty line.
However, the state has been attempting to remedy its educational issues.
In May, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed into law new legislation, changing the way the state's public schools receive funding.
The Mississippi Student Funding Formula uses a "weighted" funding structure to allocate tax dollars toward districts based on the characteristics of their students, according to Empower Mississippi, and will provide extra funds for pupils who live in poverty, have special needs or dyslexia, and for whom English is a second language.
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