With the rise of artificial intelligence use and other innovations in education providing equitable access to learning and preparing students for more advanced futures. The non-profit organization SmileHub has released new reports into the use of AI in the U.S, titled States Leading the Way in Educational Innovation and the Best Charities for Education in 2025.
As the preamble indicates: “Through hybrid or virtual learning over platforms like Zoom, schools are able to hold classes without disruption when people are sick and provide education access to more students. Additionally, rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI) use globally has schools racing to prepare students for a bolder, AI-driven future.”
To highlight the states innovating the most in their education systems and the ones that have more work to do, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 14 key metrics. The data set ranges from test-optional universities per capita to the number of education charities per capita to the adoption of K-12 computer science policies.
This revealed the most innovative states to be:
1. California
2. Massachusetts
3. New York
4. Pennsylvania
5. Illinois
6. Florida
7. Texas
8. Ohio
9. Washington
10. Indiana
In contrast, the least innovative states were revealed to be:
41. Delaware
42. New Mexico
43. Montana
44. Hawaii
45. Mississippi
46. West Virginia
47. Nevada
48. Alaska
49. North Dakota
50. South Dakota
Within the main rankings there are some interesting variances. California, for example, has the most creative workspaces per capita – 18.4 times more than Mississippi, which has the fewest creative workspaces.
Indiana has the most blue ribbon schools per capita – 10.9 times more than Nevada, which has the fewest blue ribbon schools. Returning to California, the state has the most education charities per capita – 8.4 times more than New Hampshire, which has the fewest charities.
