2020’s Most & Least Educated Cities in America

U.S. Census data at the county level shows that rural areas tend to have low college-degree attainment levels, according to a report from the Center for American Progress. Just under 40 percent of Americans over the age of 25 have earned an associate, bachelor's or graduate degree, according to the report. Children in education deserts may not see postsecondary education as an option, making it unlikely that they will earn a college degree, and perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Urban areas with particularly yawning gaps include many of the nation's biggest cities, including New York City (56 percentage points), Denver (47), San Francisco (44), Boston (42), Atlanta (41), Los Angeles (35) and Chicago (32).

With in-person learning threatened by COVID-19 and higher levels of education correlating with higher earnings, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s Most & Least Educated Cities in America,

To determine where the most educated Americans are choosing to settle down, they compared the 150 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across 11 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher to the racial education gap to the quality of the public-school system.

Key Stats

• The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area has the highest share of bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older, 55.20 percent, which is 3.8 times higher than in Visalia-Porterville, CA, the metro area with the lowest at 14.40 percent.
• The Modesto, CA, metro area has the highest racial education gap, with the share of black bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older at 21.45 percent, compared with 10.74 percent for their white counterparts, a difference of 10.72 percent favoring black people.
• For comparison, the national average for black people with the same attributes is 13.65 percent and it is 20.92 percent for their white counterparts.
• The Anchorage, AK, metro area has the highest gender education gap, with the share of female bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older at 21.41 percent, compared with 18.24 percent for their male counterparts, a difference of 3.18 percent favoring women.
• For comparison, the national average for women with the same attributes is 19.74 percent and it is 19.13 percent for their male counterparts.

WalletHub Q & A

What steps can local governments take to ensure that learning remains uninterrupted during the current COVID-19 pandemic?

“Talk with educators,” said A.J. Angulo, Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Lowell. “Get their input. Ask them what they need and ensure we get it to them. They are in the trenches working out the most difficult challenges facing today's students. We would do well to start with teachers, trust their professional instincts, and fund their needs as liberally as we do when it comes to the military and defense expenditures. When we have teachers without supplies or technology to support learning, it is like sending soldiers into combat without guns and bullets and expecting them to win a war.”

“Efforts should be made to conduct schooling face-to-face for families who have no other child care options and must go to work, while other families may need the flexibility to learn at home,” said Gary W. Houchens, PhD, Western Kentucky University. “Above all, local resources need to be marshaled to ensure that students who do not have access to adequate internet or technology can do so. This is a community problem and will require a community-wide response.”

“A program of "classrooms in the community" where children study outside schools but also outside the home -- in libraries, in churches, in whatever space can be rented at reasonable rates,” said James Hoopes, PhD, Babson College. “Decentralization schooling will lower the density and risk of infection.”

What measures can be taken to mitigate the short- and long-term impact of school closures?

“Schools are social organizations, with both benefits and liabilities,” said Ronald W. Marx, PhD, University of Arizona. “Students get to meet with friends, but they also get bullied. Some show exciting talents that are recognized and rewarded, and others seem not to flourish and retreat to the corners. Good schools and good teachers accentuate the benefits and address the liabilities. We, humans, are social animals and we need social systems to flourish and for our health. I worry somewhat that the social-emotional development of children and youth might be affected by sustained school closures. Schools need to find a way to support the social-emotional well-being and mental health of their students. Innovations in tele-counseling (much like tele-medicine) will need to be supported.”

“There have to be more safeguards put into place within financial aid regulations to protect students whose learning has been interrupted,” said Ken Schneck, PhD, Baldwin Wallace University. “It is near impossible for many students to make the most informed choice possible as to Fall plans when the financial impact of their educational decisions is so unclear.”

“I think being transparent in the decision-making process will be key in this process,” said Ramon B. Goings, Ed.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “Given these circumstances I believe most people understand that they will need to be malleable, however, they also should be kept informed about decisions being made so that they can put plans in place if schools have to for instance shut down and return to online learning.”

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:

https://wallethub.com/edu/most-and-least-educated-cities/6656/

Courtesy: WalletHub