Let’s face it: some places are magnificently stupid.
But how are you supposed to know which places are dummy-central before you go there yourself?
You dig around the data and look for things that make a place stupid, whether it’s because a large portion of a city’s population never completed high school, or the up-and-coming generation doesn’t have enough schools or teachers.
After crunching the numbers, we came up with this list of the ten dumbest cities in the Sooner State:
- Frederick
- Guymon (Photos)
- Holdenville
- Checotah (Photos)
- Watonga
- Cushing (Photos)
- Pauls Valley (Photos)
- Wewoka
- Heavener
- Sulphur (Photos)
For more Oklahoma reading, check out:
How we determined the dumbest cities in the Sooner State
We realize that formal education isn’t everything when it comes to being smart, but on the other hand not knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So we narrowed down our criteria to focus both on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Oklahoma:
- % of city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of high school drop outs (Ages 16-19)
Note: We only looked at cities with populations greater than 2,000, leaving us 108 cities in Oklahoma to rank. We also looked at the graduation rates of the entire population, not the current rates for high schoolers.
1. Frederick
Population: 3,972
Adults Without High School Diploma: 28.4%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 27.0%
2. Guymon
Population: 12,272
Adults Without High School Diploma: 32.2%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 22.7%
3. Holdenville
Population: 5,795
Adults Without High School Diploma: 28.9%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 24.8%
4. Checotah
Population: 3,371
Adults Without High School Diploma: 24.4%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 24.5%
5. Watonga
Population: 2,985
Adults Without High School Diploma: 21.1%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 26.2%
6. Cushing
Population: 7,889
Adults Without High School Diploma: 22.7%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 24.5%
7. Pauls Valley
Population: 6,034
Adults Without High School Diploma: 20.9%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 26.2%
8. Wewoka
Population: 3,448
Adults Without High School Diploma: 23.5%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 17.6%
9. Heavener
Population: 3,389
Adults Without High School Diploma: 35.4%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 11.3%
10. Sulphur
Population: 5,021
Adults Without High School Diploma: 28.9%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 11.9%
We also wrote about the 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Oklahoma if you wanted to read that story. It’s riveting.
Detailed List Of Dumbest Cities In Oklahoma
City | Rank |
---|---|
Frederick | 1 |
Guymon | 2 |
Holdenville | 3 |
Checotah | 4 |
Watonga | 5 |
Cushing | 6 |
Pauls Valley | 7 |
Wewoka | 8 |
Heavener | 9 |
Sulphur | 10 |
Sayre | 11 |
Hinton | 12 |
Purcell | 13 |
Altus | 14 |
Nowata | 15 |
Hugo | 16 |
Elk City | 17 |
Madill | 18 |
Spencer | 19 |
Seminole | 20 |
Poteau | 21 |
Ardmore | 22 |
Broken Bow | 23 |
Anadarko | 24 |
Enid | 25 |
McAlester | 26 |
Wagoner | 27 |
Idabel | 28 |
Shawnee | 29 |
Blackwell | 30 |
Stilwell | 31 |
Durant | 32 |
Eufaula | 33 |
El Reno | 34 |
Ada | 35 |
Pryor Creek | 36 |
Sallisaw | 37 |
Duncan | 38 |
Tulsa | 39 |
Muskogee | 40 |
Oklahoma City | 41 |
Chandler | 42 |
Tecumseh | 43 |
Vinita | 44 |
Perry | 45 |
Hominy | 46 |
Miami | 47 |
Pocola | 48 |
Marlow | 49 |
Sand Springs | 50 |
Chickasha | 51 |
Clinton | 52 |
Noble | 53 |
Hobart | 54 |
Skiatook | 55 |
Sapulpa | 56 |
Bethany | 57 |
Mangum | 58 |
Moore | 59 |
Claremore | 60 |
Bristow | 61 |
Del City | 62 |
McLoud | 63 |
Tahlequah | 64 |
Okmulgee | 65 |
Warr Acres | 66 |
Coweta | 67 |
Midwest City | 68 |
Catoosa | 69 |
Muldrow | 70 |
Ponca City | 71 |
Cleveland | 72 |
The Village | 73 |
Mannford | 74 |
Bixby | 75 |
Henryetta | 76 |
Glenpool | 77 |
Lone Grove | 78 |
Woodward | 79 |
Kingfisher | 80 |
Owasso | 81 |
Blanchard | 82 |
Harrah | 83 |
Yukon | 84 |
Weatherford | 85 |
Broken Arrow | 86 |
Lawton | 87 |
Slaughterville | 88 |
Pawhuska | 89 |
Choctaw | 90 |
Grove | 91 |
Tuttle | 92 |
Alva | 93 |
Bartlesville | 94 |
Newcastle | 95 |
Norman | 96 |
Dewey | 97 |
Collinsville | 98 |
Stillwater | 99 |
Bethel Acres | 100 |
Guthrie | 101 |
Edmond | 102 |
Mustang | 103 |
Piedmont | 104 |
Verdigris | 105 |
Fort Gibson | 106 |
Jenks | 107 |
Nichols Hills | 108 |