<p>California does appear to have a larger number of “good” state universities relative to its population than many other states, though scaling the comparison by population removes the exaggeration caused by size.</p>
<p>For example, California has what many consider to be about six (plus or minus a few, depending on arguments about which schools count) “flagship” quality state universities. Virginia and North Carolina have one or two each (depending on arguments about which schools count). But these states have only about 1/5 and 1/4 the population of California, so they proportionally are not that far off of California.</p>
<p>So it is not surprising that residents of Virginia and North Carolina may not see California’s public universities as necessarily being an upgrade over their own state universities.</p>
<p>Wisconsin and Minnesota can also be considered comparable or overachieving relative to California, each with a “flagship” quality state university on 1/7 the population of California.</p>
<p>However, some states seem to be underachievers at the “flagship” level. Texas, with 2/3 the population of California, has only one. New York, with 1/2 the population of California, does not have any that most people would think of as “flagship” quality comparable to the top six or so in California.</p>