Most educated states ranked from 50 to 1

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Docere

University degree

Ontario 36.8%
British Columbia 35%
Yukon 32.9%
Alberta 31.1%
Nova Scotia 29.8%
Quebec 29.5%
Manitoba 28.8%
Prince Edward Island 27.4%
Northwest Territories 26.4%
Saskatchewan 25.8%
New Brunswick 23.5%
Newfoundland 20.8%
Nunavut 14.1%

There is a direct relationship between immigration and education levels. I suspect that most immigrants to Canada are better educated than the average Canadian, so it raises the stats in provinces like BC and Ontario. Likewise, many educated people in a province like NL, are very likely to leave for Ontario or BC or elsewhere, thus lowering NL's stats. A comparative statistic would be measuring actual graduates per capita at time of graduation.

Originally Posted by bnk

Thanks for doing the leg work on this data.

Makes me think we should do a poll here asking forumers their most advanced degree.
I Would be interested in seeing how it compares vs nationally. I would figure a university degree or an advanced degree would be higher than those numbers you provided.

BTW I'm surprised that 35% of Americans have a Bachelor degree or higher.

I've read that more Americans have PHDs, but overall Canadians are better educated. Anecdotally, many Canadians with PHDs end up in the US.
PS. I have two degrees, BNK, but they are both bachelors.

[Docere]

There's less variation in the system in Canada. In the US, one can obtain a degree from some obscure state u., diploma mill or Bible college if they have a pulse or a checkbook, but there's also an elite cohort (Ivies etc.) that count for a lot more (obviously most schools are reasonably good and fall under neither extreme)

And yes, while U of T has excellent and competitive graduate programs and professional schools for example, it has 100,000 students across three campuses, far too much of a "mass institution" for it to be a big deal just to go there for your undergrad. Where you go to university matters a lot less in Canada.

[Docere]

Not that it makes a huge difference but in Canada the masters degree is listed after the professional degree in the census, while US has masters then professional.

I just looked at some stats and about 20% of Canadian lawyers have master's degrees, as do about 12.5% of physicians. Some of these may be masters' degrees obtained before professional school, other times it's a masters' above the first professional degree.

You wouldn't be able to get that data in the US because the JD and MD "outrank" the masters' in statistics. So they'd all be listed as "professional degree" as the highest degree (unless they also have a Ph.D.).

It would be interesting to see data on degree combinations.

[TexasPlaya]

• Video Link

[Docere]

Originally Posted by bnk

Makes me think we should do a poll here asking forumers their most advanced degree.
I Would be interested in seeing how it compares vs nationally. I would figure a university degree or an advanced degree would be higher than those numbers you provided.

Let's find out:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=253784

[Docere]

Over 50% of forumers have advanced degrees according to the poll.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Docere

Over 50% of forumers have advanced degrees according to the poll.

Now how many of us actually work in the same field we hold an advanced degree in?

*not raising his hand*

[MolsonExport]

The usual suspects at the bottom of the pile

[Docere]

The two most educated states (% with advanced degrees) voted almost identically in 2020:

Maryland 65.36%-32.15% D
Massachusetts 65.6%-32.14% D

[Crawford]

Maryland has super high share due to fed govt/contractor/research jobs, which overwhelmingly require post-HS credentialing. Mass is the most university-oriented state economy and has a huge share of life sciences and other brainy jobs.

Also, both states are overwhelmingly metropolitan. The states with virtually no rural population (MD, MA, CT, NJ), not surprisingly, have very high shares.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Maryland has super high share due to fed govt/contractor/research jobs, which overwhelmingly require post-HS credentialing. Mass is the most university-oriented state economy and has a huge share of life sciences and other brainy jobs.

Also, both states are overwhelmingly metropolitan. The states with virtually no rural population (MD, MA, CT, NJ), not surprisingly, have very high shares.

The fact that Vermont is overwhelmingly rural and sparse goes against the urban bias though. It is nonetheless surprising that Vt scores that high in Hi-Ed. There is of course a vast number of expats from NY, Ma, NJ to add to the mix and raise the stats.

[Crawford]

Yeah, VT is rural, but it has a huge share of New Yawkas doing the "country living" thing. A bit of an outlier. There are country environs with metropolitan cultures, if that makes sense. Much of VT, Hudson Valley, Western Mass, coastal ME, rural parts of Coastal CA, ski towns out West, etc.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The usual suspects at the bottom of the pile

Yeah, it's practically a ranking of states from best to worst.

[Docere]

There's a strong correlation here:

Massachusetts - 84%

Alabama - 53%

https://www.beckershospitalreview.co...-march-15.html

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Docere

There's a strong correlation here:

Massachusetts - 84%

Alabama - 53%

https://www.beckershospitalreview.co...-march-15.html

The first five states in that list are all New England states . . . and then there's New Hampshire, down at #20. Live free and possibly die I guess

[Docere]

I quite like New England.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Docere

I quite like New England.

Most people not from America do

[Double L]

Very interesting list. I’m glad Houston has the best university in Texas with Rice University.

[Docere]

40%+ of New England residents have college degrees. There's really only one WWC-dominated congressional district in New England, Maine's 2nd district (northern Maine).

[JManc]

New England wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the Pats and Red Sox fans running amuck.