WATCH: Report: Washington high schools rank near bottom in personal finance literacy

By Carleen Johnson
The Center Square

A new report finds Washington state ranks near the bottom in the nation when it comes to financial literacy education for high school students.

WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia using 11 key metrics, ranging from whether students are required to take a personal-finance course to financial literacy test scores and overall school rankings.

“We looked at states that have actual graduation requirements for students to take at least a personal finance course, at least one economics course, or at least require standardized testing of personal finance concepts, or economic concepts,” said WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo in a Tuesday interview with The Center Square.

Washington has none of the above

“Now, this is not to say that certain school districts in Washington may offer economics or personal finance classes. There is just no requirement for them to take one in order to graduate,” said Lupo.

“And that shows in the fact that Washington is 43rd in the share of public high school students who are guaranteed to take at least one semester course in personal finance for graduation. It’s only 2.7%,” he added.

He noted states offer varying degrees of financial literacy requirements for students, but only 17 out of 50 states earned an A rating from the American Public Education Foundation.

“To receive an A, a state must require high school students to complete a standalone personal-finance course and integrate financial literacy education throughout the K–12 curriculum,” noted WalletHub’s report.

Utah topped WalletHub’s list for the state with the most robust financial literacy education for high school students.

In Utah, students are required to take personal-finance and economics courses during high school. The state also conducts standardized testing on both personal finance and economics.

Virginia and Florida rounded out the top three in the report.

As reported by The Center Square, Rep. Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla, has tried for three years to get legislation passed (HB 1285) to make financial literacy a graduation requirement in Washington high schools.

“I’m turning 40 next week and I’m seeing where financial education would have been beneficial in my life,” said Rude in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square.

“I’m thinking of the things that young people do like right out of their parents’ house or even before then,” he added.

“And usually, it is purchasing a car or purchasing car insurance or potentially a renter’s policy and understanding the value of that, and understanding debt I think is another one,” Rude said.

“Also, how to manage student loan debt and making sure that those dollars that a student is borrowing are actually a good investment in their future career.”

Rude’s bill was introduced in committee once again during the 2026 session but did not advance, in part because he didn’t push it as the Washington Board of Education is currently updating graduation requirements, to include some form of financial literacy.

“Because the state board had taken this on and was going to include that, I thought I wouldn’t waste time pushing it through and interfering with the work that they’re already doing,” Rude said.

He is hoping what the board adopts will allow local districts some flexibility.

“I don’t want it to end up being some kind of minimal, ‘check this box’ kind of requirement, but I didn’t want to mandate that schools are offering ‘X’ number of standalone credits,” he said.

“I want it to be flexible for them to implement and honor local control.”

Rude told The Center Square he is meeting with SBE officials next week to discuss the new graduation requirements and find out what the board is planning to mandate so far as financial education goes.

“I am concerned they want to push it out a number of years, but we’ll see what they’ve come up with.”