Educational Attainment by State - age 25-44 (2014, high school)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When comparing different locations, educational attainment is one of the key metrics to check. Here is a twist on the usual numbers, where the data is limited to persons who are in what is typically the first half or so of their working years. From the 2014-2018 ACS census data, here is the proportion of adults by state who are BOTH:
(1) age 25-44
(2) hold a bachelor's degree or higher
District of Columbia 36.3%
Massachusetts 19.1%
Colorado 18.0%
New York 16.8%
Maryland 16.8%
Virginia 16.7%
New Jersey 16.7%
Utah 16.6%
Illinois 15.9%
Minnesota 15.9%
Washington 15.5%
Connecticut 15.3%
California 15.1%
North Dakota 14.7%
Nebraska 14.6%
Oregon 14.1%
Kansas 14.1%
*** USA Average*** 13.8%
Texas 13.7%
New Hampshire 13.6%
Georgia 13.6%
Rhode Island 13.5%
Pennsylvania 13.5%
Vermont 13.4%
North Carolina 13.1%
Hawaii 13.1%
Iowa 12.8%
Wisconsin 12.7%
Missouri 12.7%
Alaska 12.6%
South Dakota 12.3%
Delaware 12.2%
Ohio 12.1%
Montana 12.0%
Michigan 11.8%
Tennessee 11.8%
Indiana 11.6%
Arizona 11.3%
Idaho 11.3%
Maine 11.0%
South Carolina 11.0%
Wyoming 10.9%
Florida 10.8%
Louisiana 10.7%
Oklahoma 10.6%
Kentucky 10.5%
Alabama 10.2%
Nevada 9.7%
Arkansas 9.7%
New Mexico 9.3%
Mississippi 9.2%
West Virginia 8.3%
Any surprises in these numbers? Rather striking to see some of the discrepancies between neighboring states, such as CO exceeding NM and also VA over WV each by a 2:1 ratio. The educated younger population is far from being evenly distributed across the country.
Those numbers look way off. These are the numbers I got from the 2018 American Community Survey, divided into 25-34 and 35-44 age cohorts, and the rankings for each state in each cohort:
25-34
73.9% District of Columbia
53.5% Massachusetts
47.2% New Jersey
46.4% New York
46.1% Vermont
43.4% Connecticut
43.2% Minnesota
43.2% Maryland
42.8% Colorado
42.4% Illinois
41.6% Virginia
39.9% Pennsylvania
39.4% Washington
38.8% New Hampshire
38.8% Rhode Island
38.7% Nebraska
37.7% Kansas
36.6% California
36.3% Maine
35.6% North Dakota
65.8% District of Columbia
51.2% Massachusetts
47.6% New Jersey
45.5% Connecticut
45.4% Virginia
45.1% Maryland
44.6% Colorado
43.4% New York
42.9% Vermont
41.9% Minnesota
41.6% New Hampshire
40.8% Washington
40.3% Illinois
39.8% North Dakota
39.6% Hawaii
39.0% Pennsylvania
38.9% Nebraska
38.7% Oregon
38.3% Utah
37.3% Kansas
37.1% California
36.9% North Carolina
36.5% Iowa
36.4% Montana
35.9% Rhode Island
35.8% Maine
35.8% Wisconsin
35.0% Georgia
35.0% Michigan
35.0% Missouri
The fact that for my generation, the Bachelor's Degree has become the new High School diploma is troubling given the rising costs of education vs. the rise of real wages. Something's gotta give.
It looks like some clarification is needed, since the data I've provided is from calculations and not summarized as such on the census pages. The statistics in my post were for the proportion of ALL adults who met two criteria, (1) age 25-44 and (2) completed a bachelor's degree or higher. Thus, people age 45+ who had earned such a degree were excluded, in addition to people of all ages who had not earned a degree.
Such a calculation can help identify locations that not only have well educated young adults, but also where young adults are more represented among the total adult population. For example, certain businesses may look for employees or customers who are college educated, but in the first half of their typical working years and far away from retirement.
Here is an example for Pennsylvania:
Total adult population - 8,921,363
Total population age 25-44 - 3,162,970
Population age 25-44 with a degree - 1,206,868
Adults who are both young and college educated, out of the young population only: 1,206,868 / 3,162,970 = 38.2%
Adults who are both young and college educated, out of the TOTAL population: 1,206,868 / 8,921,363 = 13.5%
The data is sourced from Table S1501 on https://data.census.gov for the latest 5-year estimates (2014-2018).
And yes - the share of adults regardless of age who have a degree is in the low 30s nationally. This post is isolating just part of that population.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Interesting
