With fall semester drawing near and educational attainment having a strong connection to income level, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Most & Least Educated Cities.
In order to locate where the most educated Americans are choosing to settle, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 150 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across nine key metrics. Our data set ranges from the percentage of adults aged 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree to the educational attainment gap between women and men.
| Most Educated Cities | Least Educated Cities | ||||
| 1 | Ann Arbor, MI | 141 | Salinas, CA | ||
| 2 | Washington, DC | 142 | Beaumont, TX | ||
| 3 | San Jose, CA | 143 | Lafayette, LA | ||
| 4 | Durham, NC | 144 | Hickory, NC | ||
| 5 | Madison, WI | 145 | Fresno, CA | ||
| 6 | Boston, MA | 146 | Modesto, CA | ||
| 7 | San Francisco, CA | 147 | Bakersfield, CA | ||
| 8 | Provo, UT | 148 | Visalia, CA | ||
| 9 | Austin, TX | 149 | Brownsville, TX | ||
| 10 | Seattle, WA | 150 | McAllen, TX | ||
Best vs. Worst
- The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area has the highest percentage of bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older, 51.7 percent, which is four times higher than in Visalia-Porterville, CA, the metro area with the lowest, 13.2 percent.
- The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area has the highest percentage of graduate or professional degree holders aged 25 and older, 26.7 percent, which is more than six times higher than in Visalia-Porterville, CA, the metro area with the lowest, 4.3 percent.
- The San Diego-Carlsbad, CA, metro area has the highest public-school quality score, 8.0 out of 10.0, which is four times higher than in Springfield, MA, the metro area with the lowest, 2.0 out of 10.0.
- The Albuquerque, NM, metro area has the highest racial gap in educational attainment, with the percentage of blacks aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree at 19.89 percent and 18.51 percent for their white counterparts, a difference of 1.38 percent favoring blacks.The national average for blacks with the same attributes is 12.38 percent and 19.52 percent for their white counterparts.
- The Anchorage, AK, metro area has the highest gender gap in educational attainment, with the percentage of women aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree at 21.23 percent and 17.59 percent for their male counterparts, a difference of 3.64 percent favoring women.The national average for women with the same attributes is 18.82 percent and 18.47 percent for their male counterparts.
For the full report and to see where your city ranks, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-and-least-educated-cities/6656/
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a phone, Skype or in-studio interview with one of our experts. Full data sets for specific cities are also available upon request.
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