Most Educated Counties in the US Map

This is an interactive Educational Attainment map of the US. The data is from 2017. The size of the bubbles represent the population of a county. The color is the percentage of population that obtained the degree selected. To see the minimum degree obtained, press the buttons. Zoom in to look closely at the county of your interest. Scroll down for more information.


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Educational Attaniment in the U.S.

This is a Graduated symbol map of the United States of America. It displays the estimated educational attainment in each county of the US, for people 25 years or older in 2017. Bigger circles or bubbles, represent a larger population. The tooltip displays the exact population number in every county. The color of each circle, represents the percentage of the population that achieved a specific educational attainment in that county. The buttons will toggle between different degrees of educational attainment. Each button selects and displays the minimum degree obtained. The exact percentage is also in the tooltip.

Ahead is a selection of what makes some of these educated cities an irresistable attraction to gifted professionals.

The 10 Most Educated Counties with at Least a Graduate Degrees:

counties with most graduate degree map
  1. Falls Church City, Virginia: 42.54%
  2. Los Alamos County, New Mexico: 40.29%
  3. Arlington County, Virginia: 39.43%
  4. District of Columbia: 32.77%
  5. Alexandria City, Virginia: 32.6%
  6. Orange County, North Carolina: 31.75%
  7. Montgomery County, Maryland: 31.6%
  8. Howard County, Maryland: 31.12%
  9. Tompkins County, New York: 29.77%
  10. Fairfax, Virginia: 29.69%

D.C. is the place to be, if you want your neighbors to be highly educated. Falls Church is just a few miles away from D.C., but for the number one on this list, proximity to D.C. is only one reason to attract talented professionals. Falls Church is also home to General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, both Aerospace companies. Furthermore, it was named the richest county in the United States in 2011. For these reasons it is one of the most attractive cities for Graduate and Bachelor degree professionals.

Los Alamos has a lot of positive aspects including its natural surroundings, but the main reason a high concentration of talent and wealth is concentrated in this area, is because chemists, engineers, and physicists working at Los Alamos National Laboratories have been there since the Manhattan Project.

Arlington, VA is home to the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport, and Arlington National Cemetery. In academia, the county contains Marymount University, George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. It also has the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and its biggest employer is the U.S. Department of Defense. Source: Wikipedia.

In Alexandria, VA the biggest employer is the U.S. Department of Department of Defense. It is not surprisingly home to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the National Science Foundation.

Orange County, NC has the Durham–Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is home to the University of North Carolina, the oldest state supported university in the US. This area is also home to North Carolina State University, and Duke University forming a research triangle which is a magnet to outstanding graduate professionals.

Montgomery County, Maryland is included in the Washington Arlington Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States. The high concentration of graduate professionals is probably due to its proximity to D.C. and the presence of biomedical research carried by Johns Hopkins University.

Tompkins County, New York is home to Cornell University (an IVY league school), Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community College, as well as high-tech companies. These centers bring to the community scientific break-throughs that attract highly skilled talent. Tompkins County.

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Howard County MD, and Fairfax VA are also part of the D.C. area of influence, with government agencies attracting talented graduate professionals. It is also important to note that Falls Church, Fairfax, Los Alamos, Howard, and Arlington County are among the wealthiest counties in the country, US News.

This ranking shows preference for the Mid-Atlantic U.S. or Appalachian Region for Graduate degree holders. Whether they are MSc. or PhD's they show they want to live close to D.C. with the exception of Los Alamos NM.

For more detail and more cities, press the button on Graduate Degree and check the map.

The 10 Most Educated Counties with at Least a Bachelor's Degree:

counties with most bachelor's degrees map
  1. Falls Church Virginia: 78.13%
  2. Arlington County Virginia: 74.13%
  3. Los Alamos County, New Mexico: 65.45%
  4. Alexandria City, Virginia: 61.83%
  5. Petkin County, Colorado: 61.23%
  6. Howard County, Maryland: 61.22%
  7. New York County, New York: 60.68%
  8. Fairfax County, Virginia: 60.65%
  9. Boulder County, Colorado: 60.37%
  10. Loudoun County, Virginia: 59.80%

This list resembles the previous one, with a few exceptions. Pitkin County, Colorado one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S. It is also the home of the city of Aspen the ski resort town that attracts millions of tourists every year. In this county are also located three institutions that attract educated talent: Aspen Music Festival and School, the Aspen Institute, and the Aspen Center for Physics.

New York County, New York has the allure of a big city, luxury, lots of entertainment, historical landmarks, cultural events, restaurants, and bars. All of it, within walking distance.

Directly from Bouldercounty.com Boulder County, Colorado has one of the most diverse natural landscapes, open space, forward thinking land development, and sustainability measures; that make it a great place to live for accredited professionals!

Another reason to move to Boulder, Colorado is its Brewery scene. Check this Breweries map for more information!

Other counties worth noting because of their high Bachelor's degree rate are:

counties with population that has at least some college

San Miguel County, Colorado also a ski town, which has Telluride as county seat. According to Uncover Colorado this area "is a constant mecca for festivals and enthusiastic attendees including, Telluride Film Festival, Mountain Film Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and the Telluride Wine Festival". Events that draw professionals from all over the country.

Gunnison County is adjacent to Pitkin County and it is surrounded by beautiful natural parks and views. These are probably the reasons why bachelors seek this location.

Douglas County, Colorado has the privilege to be located midway between Colorado's two largest cities, Denver and Colorado Springs. It is also near the city of Aurora, and breathtaking Natural parks. This area attracts talent thanks to Charles Schwab Corporation, EchoStar, CH2M Hill, and Western Union. It is ranked among the wealthiest areas in the country. Source: Wikipedia.

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The allure of Teton County, Wyoming, is its Natural Beauty. White collar professionals seek this area because of places like the Jackson Hole Ski Mountain Resort, the Grand Teton National Park and part of Yellowstone National Park. This county has some of the highest income, due to the residents in Jackson Hole, which includes among others Bill Gates. According to the NYPost one of the reason it attracts millionaires is the low tax incentives. This migration brings talented professionals as well.

Hamilton County Indiana, is so close to Indianapolis that some of its suburbs are part of this county. As noted by this article in the IndyStar, this area gets an "A-Plus ratings for its public schools, housing, job market, health and fitness, and family focus; an A-minus for public safety; a B-plus for night life, diversity and outdoor activities; B ratings for cost of living and commute; and a B-minus for weather" therefore attracting young professionals.

Williamson County, Tennessee is part of the Nashville Davidson Murfreesboro Franklin Metropolitan Area. According to Best Places.net this area attracts young bachelors thanks to the music scene, renovated downtown area, sports facilities, and the presence of Vanderbilt University and Fisk University.

According to USA Today Summit County, Colorado has a ski resort and the high life expectancy of the area, unemployment and low poverty rate attracts high skilled Bachelor's holders.

Loudoun County, Virginia is located in the Washington Arlington Alexandria Metropolitan Area. Therefore, its location near D.C. attracts talented professionals.

Unlike Post Graduates, professionals with only Bachelor's degree, prefere the West or Midwest region of the United States.

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counties with population that has at least some an associate degree

Economic Benefits of Education

There is a claim among college graduates, that claims their degree was not worth their time and money. The concern is valid, especially as the cost of tuition continues to increase across the nation. While it’s true that the average cost of college continues to increase, the wages of Americans without a degree are simultaneously decreasing, source UNCF. But as the following paragraphs will explain; effort and economic hardship are small prices to pay when it comes to acquiring a degree, and increasing educational attainment. Not only this. As mentioned before all this highly educated cieires have higher income!

The educational attainment of the U.S. population refers to the highest level of education completed. According to a study by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Tom Lee:

  • As individuals attain greater education, their probability of employment rises.
  • Greater education, including certification for those without a high-school or college degree, also increases workers’ ability to command higher wages.
  • For every 1 percentage-point increase in the growth rate of the portion of a state’s population with at least a bachelor’s degree, the state’s real gross domestic product growth rate increases by about 0.08 percentage points. Consequently, if every state had increased its bachelor’s degree attainment growth rate by just 1 percentage point over the last decade, then nationwide economic growth would have increased by about $130.5 billion.

Other Advantages of Higher Education

The benefits of higher educational attainment are not limited to economic gains. College graduates find greater job satisfaction, have more healthful lifestyles with less smoking and more exercise, and are more civically engaged with higher voting and volunteerism rates.

Lumina Foundation summarizes a series of advantages attributed to higher educational attainment with a Bachelor's degree. Among these advantages: Annual earnings are about 134 percent higher, the incidence of poverty is 3.5 times lower, retirement income is 2.4 times higher. Job safety is greater, occupational prestige are significantly higher. The probability of being employed is 24 percent higher. The likelihood of reporting health to be very good or excellent is 44 percent greater. Life expectancy is longer. The likelihood of not having a bank account is 8.1 times lower. The probability of being in prison or jail is 4.9 times lower. Finally, Employment in the nonprofit sector is twice as likely. The estimated value of the implicit wage contribution to nonprofits is 8.7 times greater. Annual cash donations to charities are $900 (3.4 times) higher. Total philanthropic contributions (i.e., the value of volunteer labor plus the value of the implicit contribution to nonprofits plus cash donations) are $3,600 (4.7 times) higher.

Despite the positive outcomes of increasing educational attainment, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows that while the United States’ percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees is higher than most other OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, at the current rate of attainment, the United States may not remain at a higher level. Between 2001 and 2012 other countries in the OECD increased by 8 percentage points while the U.S. increased 5 percentage points. Source: Edcor.

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Metropolitan Areas and Education

As for cities more than counties, they want to attract the talent, or human capital. Why are cities interested in attracting or keeping human capital? According to Bloomberg City Lab: It is a key driver of economic growth. The same benefits mentioned above. But, talent has increasingly concentrated in a relatively small number of cities, leading to a growing divergence in talent across places. The leaders on college grads are a who’s who of leading tech hubs. Part of this reason is that many of the metropolitan areas with high proportion of bachelor degree attainment is the substantial presence of colleges and universities. Source: USA TODAY.

The concentration of human capital according to Brookings is also the product of considerable disparities across U.S. metropolitan areas, due to their underlying economic and demographic structures, migration patterns, and historical and cultural costumes that affect the real and perceived return to education.

For example, Brookings highlights that "the metro areas with the lowest college attainment rates include ones in California’s Central Valley, along the Texas border, and in older industrial centers of the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast. These regions have historically been home to industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and shipping, for which a college degree was not a prerequisite to obtaining a good-paying job." Those findings are corroborated with this map.

Resources and Inspiration

To create this map I used the tutorials for Let's make a Map and Let's make a Bubble Map. The population and educational attainment data were gathered from US Census. Oglala Lakota, South Dakota and Kusilvak, Alaska counties had no School attainment data, therefore their information is not present.

Since the "Rates of educational attainment within a population often serve as an important indicator of economic well-being"(Sorenson Impact, 2017). I wanted to know more about where the most educated people in the US live. Therefore, I also wanted to know, how educated is my community? Are most educated people in the East or West Coast? I found previously made maps that focused in one level. I wanted to see each level and the differences between them. I wanted to differentiate communities with higher rates of Associate degrees from communities with higher rates of Bachelor's degrees. Therefore, I made an interactive graduated map. I also wanted to see if larger populations had a concentration of low skilled or high skilled individuals.

Once the map was created, I found the presence of highly educated people in Los Alamos and Denver was quite eye-opening. Zoom in to find other surprises. Enjoy!

If you are interested in further information on population and demographics go to this Population Pyramid of the US.

This map will be updated with improved and recent information! To receive updates on this and more nature maps join my email list!!!!!!!

Made by Luz K. Molina with D3.js.

Map Percentage US population with High School Diploma