Here Are The Least, Most Educated Cities In SE Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE COUNTY, WI — Educational attainment and access to good schools is as important as ever. People with more advanced degrees tend to be employed more than those without, and they often see more money in their bank accounts. But a report shows which cities are the most — and least — brainy in America.

The folks at HeyTutor crunched education, financial and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey to determine rank the most educated cities.

Here are the percentages of adults over the age of 25 in each metro Milwaukee city in terms of educational attainment:

High School Graduation or Greater

Fox Point 98.4
Shorewood 98.1
Whitefish Bay 98.0
Mequon 97.5
Hudson 97.5
Delafield 97.1
Brookfield 97.1
Pewaukee 96.9
Greendale 96.8
Wauwatosa 96.7
Sussex 96.7
Elm Grove 96.6
Oconomowoc 96.3
New Berlin 95.9
Glendale 95.7
Menomonee Falls 95.8
Germantown 95.2
Muskego 96.3
Oak Creek 94.9
Mount Pleasant 93.9
Caledonia 93.8
Waukesha 93.2
Greenfield 92.2
South Milwaukee 90.9
Cudahy 90.4
St. Francis 90.1
Kenosha 88.8
Racine 83.2
Milwaukee 83.0

College Degree or Greater

Fox Point 75.8
Whitefish Bay 73.8
Elm Grove 70.5
Shorewood 68.1
Mequon 65.1
Brookfield 61.3
Wauwatosa 59.2
Pewaukee 52.0
Glendale 51.5
Delafield 51.5
Oconomowoc 44.8
Hudson 43.8
Menomonee Falls 42.4
Sussex 41.3
New Berlin 41.2
Greendale 40.3
Germantown 39.2
Waukesha 36.2
Muskego 36.0
Mount Pleasant 34.3
Oak Creek 32.5
St. Francis 31.0
Greenfield 30.0
Caledonia 29.3
Milwaukee 23.8
Kenosha 23.4
Cudahy 21.5
South Milwaukee 21.0
Racine 17.1

Unsurprisingly, Cambridge, Massachusetts — home to both Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology — topped the list to claim the prestigious honor of most educated city in America. Residents in the city have an average of 17.22 years of education under their belts. The national average: 13.9 years, or roughly the equivalent of an associate’s degree.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Boulder, Colorado, rounded out the top three. Here are the 10 most educated cities and the average years of education residents have attained.

1. Cambridge, MA — 17.22
2. Ann Arbor, MI — 16.92
3. Boulder, CO — 16.77
4. Arlington, VA — 16.63
5. Berkeley, CA — 16.56
6. Naperville, IL — 16.15
7. Cary Town, NC — 16.10
8. Bellevue, WA — 16.09
9. Irvine, CA — 15.93
10. Carlsbad, CA — 15.85

Meanwhile, the average resident in East Los Angeles, California, hasn’t earned a high school diploma. With just 11.46 years of education, the unincorporated community in Los Angeles County ranked as the least educated out of the 319 places the study looked at. Just 6 percent have a bachelor’s degree and 2 percent have at least a graduate degree.

In fact, California was home to the five cities with the least amount of education, with El Monte, Santa Maria, Salinas and Santa Ana all having an average of fewer than 12 years of education.

Higher education is tied to higher incomes in America, so it’s no surprise residents in these cities each earn on average between $23,392 and $29,491.

According to the College Board, the typical four-year degree holder who worked full-time earned $24,600 more than those of high school graduates. Bachelor’s degree-holders paid nearly $7,000 more in taxes and brought home $17,700 more after taxes were taken out.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree-holders ages 25 and older is about half that of high school graduates, College Board said, and young adults with a college degree are more likely to move up the socioeconomic ladder. They’re also less likely to rely on public assistance.

Indeed, the study found that the most educated cities tended to see higher wages, home values, employment rates and labor force participation rates among married couples. These places tended to be located on the coasts, were more likely to have a strong tech presence and had a healthy number of universities in the area.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.