Most educated states ranked from 50 to 1
 

https://foodies1st.com/post/376/the-...jEALw_wcB&al=1

Some surprised me but many didn't.

This takes a long time to load and read through.

I'm assuming Massachusetts is at the top for advanced degrees.

Not sure why they included a picture of Chicago for Michigan... but yes, as expected, MA on top.

2021 ACS 1-Year Estimates

College degree

1. Massachusetts 46.62%
2. Vermont 44.44%
3. Colorado 44.42%
4. New Jersey 43.1%
5. Maryland 42.55%
6. Connecticut 42.13%
7. Virginia 41.81%
8. New Hampshire 40.25%
9. New York 39.92%
10. Washington 38.97%
11. Minnesota 38.9%
12. Illinois 37.14%
13. Utah 36.81%
14. Rhode Island 36.5%
15. Oregon 36.33%
16. California 36.19%
17. Maine 35.99%
18. Delaware 35.62%
19. Kansas 35.4%
20. Hawaii 35.3%
21. North Carolina 34.91%
22. Montana 34.8%
23. Georgia 34.63%
24. Pennsylvania 35.54%
25. Nebraska 34.45%
26. Florida 33.16%
27. Texas 33.12%
28. Alaska 32.79%
29. Wisconsin 32.54%
30. Arizona 32.43%
31. North Dakota 31.74%
32. Missouri 31.72%
33. Michigan 31.67%
34. South Dakota 31.67%
35. South Carolina 31.53%
36 (tie). Ohio, Idaho 30.72%
38. Iowa 30.54%
39. Tennessee 30.48%
40. New Mexico 30.05%
41. Wyoming 29.24%
42. Indiana 28.88%
43. Oklahoma 27.92%
44. Nevada 27.57%
45. Alabama 27.43%
46. Kentucky 26.98%
47. Louisiana 26.45%
48. Arkansas 25.27%
49. Mississippi 24.78%
50. West Virginia 24.12%


Advanced degree

1. Massachusetts 21.27%
2. Maryland 20.16%
3. Connecticut 18.94%
4. Vermont 18.42%
5. Virginia 18.33%
6. New York 17.72%
7. New Jersey 17.4%
8. Colorado 17%
9. New Hampshire 15.72%
10. Rhode Island 15.61%
11. Washington 15.13%
12. Delaware 15.05%
13. Illinois 15.01%
14. New Mexico 14.08%
15. California 14.05%
16. Pennsylvania 13.94%
17. Oregon 13.88%
18. Maine 13.82%
19. Georgia 13.7%
20. Minnesota 13.4%
21. Kansas 13.39%
22. North Carolina 13.19%
23. Hawaii 13.01%
24. Utah 12.69%
25. Arizona 12.64%
26. Florida 12.55%
27. Michigan 12.48%
28. Montana 12.45%
29. Nebraska 12.28%
30. Missouri 12.24%
31. South Carolina 11.95%
32. Alaska 11.91%
33. Texas 11.9%
34. Ohio 11.79%
35. Tennessee 11.28%
36. Kentucky 11.11%
37. Wisconsin 11.04%
38. Alabama 10.85%
39. Wyoming 10.72%
40. Idaho 10.54%
41. Indiana 10.39%
42. South Dakota 10.11%
43. West Virginia 9.94%
44. Iowa 9.87%
45. Louisiana 9.65%
46. Nevada 9.64%
47. Oklahoma 9.62%
48. North Dakota 9.38%
49. Arkansas 9.37%
50. Mississippi 9.35%

I'm surprised that California is ranked so low here.

Interesting to compare the college vs. advanced ranking.

Advanced degrees (as a percentage of college grads) more common in states where there's more scientists, researchers and academics. Hence very high in Massachusetts and Maryland/Virginia.

New Mexico is the most interesting: pretty average for all college grads, but high for advanced degrees (almost half of college grads have advanced degrees). Los Alamos is in the state.

Doctoral degree

Massachusetts 2.83%
Maryland 2.63%
Virginia 1.88%
Vermont 1.87%
New Mexico 1.82%

https://www.socialexplorer.com/blog/...-the-u-s-11182

New Mexico is #5 for doctorates, #14 for advanced degrees and #40 for college degrees.

Another thread-starting post without anything but a link to some rando website. Lame.

As a former Tennessean, I'm just happy to see we're no longer in the bottom 20%! Low bar... I know.

Thanks for the explorer link. My census block group is supposdly 21% PhDs? That's pretty surprising.

edit: Or does this include MD's and JD's? That would be less surprising.

I think the Bay Area is such an outlier in educational attainment even for California.

Los Alamos.

Generally speaking yes, however, Sacramento has 4 suburban counties that also do well in this regard, as does Coastal SoCal.

CA Counties by % of Adults age 25+ with a Bachelor Degree or Higher, 2021:
San Francisco, CA 60.9%
Marin, CA 59.5%
Santa Clara, CA 55.1%
San Mateo, CA 51.8%
Alameda, CA 50.1%
Contra Costa, CA 45.1%
Placer, CA 43.9%
Yolo, CA 43.5%
Orange, CA 43.1%
Santa Cruz, CA 42.8%
Nevada, CA 42.3%
San Diego, CA 42.0%
El Dorado, CA 39.4%
San Luis Opispo, CA 39.4%
Sonoma, CA 38.3%
Napa, CA 37.7%
Santa Barbara, CA 36.3%
Los Angeles, CA 35.1%
Ventura, CA 34.7%
Sacramento, CA 33.1%
Butte, CA 32.3%
Humboldt, CA 29.9%
Solano, CA 29.4%
Monterey, CA 27.2%
Mendocino, CA 25.5%
Fresno, CA 24.0%
Riverside, CA 24.0%
Shasta, CA 23.6%
San Bernardino, CA 23.3%
Lake, CA 23.2%
San Benito, CA 21.6%
San Joaquin, CA 20.1%
Stanislaus, CA 19.3%
Yuba, CA 19.1%
Kern, CA 18.6%
Madeda, CA 17.7%
Sutter, CA 17.3%
Tulare, CA 16.2%
Tehama, CA 14.4%
Merced, CA 14.2%
Imperial, CA 13.5%
Kings, CA 11.2%

CA Counties by % of Adults age 25+ with a Graduate or Professional Degree, 2021
Santa Clara, CA 27.0%
Marin, CA 26.6%
San Francisco, CA 26.3%
San Mateo, CA 23.3%
Alameda, CA 22.4%
Yolo, CA 21.6%
Santa Cruz, CA 19.2%
Contra Costa, CA 17.6%
Nevada, CA 16.7%
San Diego, CA 16.4%
Orange, CA 16.3%
Placer, CA 15.9%
San Luis Opisbo, CA 14.8%
Sonoma, CA 14.8%
Santa Barbara, CA 14.7%
Napa, CA 13.5%
Ventura, CA 13.3%
Los Angeles, CA 12.5%
El Dorado, CA 12.4%
Sacramento, CA 12.2%
Monterey, CA 11.9%
Butte, CA 10.8%
Mendocino, CA 10.8%
Solano, CA 9.6%
Humboldt, CA 9.1%
Riverside, CA 8.6%
Fresno, CA 8.3%
San Bernardino, CA 8.0%
Yuba, CA 7.8%
Lake, CA 7.4%
Shasta, CA 7.3%
San Benito, CA 6.7%
San Joaquin, CA 6.7%
Kern, CA 6.5%
Tulare, CA 6.2%
Madera, CA 6.2%
Stanislaus, CA 6.2%
Sutter, CA 5.0%
Merced, CA 4.8%
Imperial, CA 4.1%
Tehama, CA 3.4%
Kings, CA 3.2%

Huge immigrant population and large Ag industry. CA should be ranked fairly high (and is) but would be unlikely to be near the top. States like MA, CT, NJ, MD are almost entirely metropolitan.

It's PhD or equivalent-level degrees. MD and JD fall under the category of first professional degree.

Shouldn't an MD be equivalent to a PhD and a JD equivalent to a Master degree? Otherwise, that doesn't seem to make sense.

21% PhDs or equivalents sounds really high, even in the context of a highly educated census block.

Why? California has a huge population, nearly equivalent to Canada. And California has a slightly higher percentage of people with college degrees than Canada does. So if California were its own country, yada yada yada...

California also has a very diverse population even in terms of its jobs. I have friends my age who went to cooking school and are very successful in what they do, starting their own bakeries or being pastry chefs. And my best friend in high school is now a makeup artist and does work on TV and film productions. He doesn't have a degree, but he's very talented and successful. This is why degrees don't impress me; you don't need one to be successful. I have a degree but it's not even for the line of work I'm doing now. And many people with degrees that I've worked with are still dumbasses or are very uninteresting people.

It never ceases to amaze me how people still confuse "educated" with intelligence...:shrug::sly::uhh::cool::koko:

That's been my take on it. To add to my previous post, just because someone has a degree or several degrees doesn't necessarily mean they are more intelligent or an interesting person. In the various jobs I've had, I've worked with some idiot lawyers and dull people with MBAs with no common sense.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it...." - Mark Twain

One of my favorites! :cheers::haha::uhh: