Table 1: Educational Attainment of Army Recruits by State, 2005-2007

The table below shows the percentage of each state's active-duty Army recruits in fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 that held a regular high school diploma or above, otherwise known as 'tier 1' by the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has a goal of 90% of new recruits holding a regular high school diploma. In 2006, the proportion of new recruits with a regular high school diploma dropped for every state and nationally, with the exception of North Dakota. The proportion was also the lowest in more than 25 years. In 2007, the percentage of tier 1 recruits dropped further. While nine states had higher percentages in 2007 than 2006, all of them were still lower than 2005. Vermont, Nebraska and Minnesota had the highest percentages of tier 1 recruits. Nevada, Montana and Mississippi had the lowest percentages.

These statistics are part of an analysis of recruiting data obtained by NPP from the Department of Defense through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Rank
in 2007		 State Total Army
Recruits in 2007		 Percent
Tier 1
2007		 Percent
Tier 1
2006		 Percent
Tier 1
2005
- U.S. and abroad 67,398 70.7 73.1 83.5
- U.S. 66,456 70.4 73.3 83.7
46 Alabama 1,626 62.3 64.7 80.4
37 Alaska 222 65.3 63.4 77.4
29 Arizona 1,624 68.8 74.9 85.2
48 Arkansas 892 59.9 64.5 74.7
19 California 5,808 73.3 79.1 90.2
28 Colorado 1,026 69.3 72.1 82.7
5 Connecticut 364 78.6 83.7 89.7
12 Delaware 97 76.3 77.1 87.3
4 District of Columbia 39 79.5 77.0 85.7
35 Florida 4,829 66.1 68.0 80.2
42 Georgia 2,729 64.6 65.1 80.4
7 Hawaii 304 78.3 75.4 84.5
41 Idaho 389 64.8 66.2 77.9
21 Illinois 2,423 72.6 75.1 84.7
40 Indiana 1,386 64.8 66.4 79.2
8 Iowa 604 77.8 80.2 88.1
20 Kansas 810 72.8 75.6 86.9
24 Kentucky 988 71.8 69.1 76.7
43 Louisiana 967 64.6 67.3 77.1
23 Maine 402 71.9 65.0 75.5
26 Maryland 914 69.4 76.7 84.5
10 Massachusetts 773 76.8 77.3 83.7
27 Michigan 2,309 69.3 74.3 85.1
3 Minnesota 674 79.8 75.0 86.8
49 Mississippi 583 59.2 64.8 68.9
18 Missouri 1,661 73.7 74.9 87.1
50 Montana 323 58.2 66.6 72.2
2 Nebraska 413 80.6 83.9 90.6
51 Nevada 678 54.1 56.0 80.6
13 New Hampshire 248 75.4 72.4 80.9
6 New Jersey 946 78.3 80.9 88.3
22 New Mexico 470 72.6 77.1 81.4
30 New York 3,042 67.7 71.4 79.0
11 North Carolina 2,564 76.6 76.8 86.2
33 North Dakota 69 66.7 79.6 79.5
17 Ohio 2,566 74.9 78.1 86.7
36 Oklahoma 1,216 65.8 69.7 80.6
47 Oregon 864 62.3 63.3 77.6
15 Pennsylvania 2,211 75.2 79.4 86.0
44 Rhode Island 160 63.8 70.8 84.5
25 South Carolina 1,296 70.4 71.5 80.9
14 South Dakota 138 75.4 77.6 84.0
39 Tennessee 1,368 65.1 65.0 76.6
16 Texas 7,897 75.0 76.1 85.6
45 Utah 321 62.6 63.9 82.3
1 Vermont 73 80.8 69.0 81.8
31 Virginia 1,944 66.9 70.6 77.4
38 Washington 1,269 65.1 69.9 84.1
34 West Virginia 463 66.5 68.4 76.7
9 Wisconsin 1,335 77.7 81.6 87.5
32 Wyoming 139 66.9 71.1 79.9
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