Data: 2019-2023 American Community Survey accessed via API using tidycensus package in R
Tools: R (packages: dplyr, ggplot2, sf, usmap, tools, ggfx, grid, scales)
Literally every single data map of the US looks like this
Funny thing about oregon is that percentage is about the same as the percent of people that graduate high school.
I exaggerate, but it’s bad.
Probably an instance where excluding DC would be appropriate, since it is just an urban area, whereas even states like MA have some areas which aren’t urban.
Why the high percentage in big bend, Texas?
Wyoming exports kids, many after getting a degree. A lot of those end up on the front range of Colorado.
every one of this map post is really just a poverty/racial map
Huntsville pushing Alabama off the bottom of the list
I don’t know why but I expected the numbers to be higher
When did Colorado become so great regarding median income and education?
I live in Colorado and thought “that’s weird Wyoming is so high”.
I might take this and overlay it with the voting map. Very curious.
I see a lot of this due to the influx of young, degreed people from other states. So, Illinois has the Chicago financial industry. Colorado has Denver and its outliers. Utah has a lifestyle location to draw programmers, etc. Virginia – college centers and US Federal workers? Georgia has HBCU grads relocating to Atlanta? Massachusetts has finance and insurance (and more – as well as the nation’s leader in secondary education outcomes).
But why is Vermont’s percentage so high? Also, the same question applies to Minnesota (I’m assuming a lifestyle choice which helps businesses recruit).
And that’s why Colorado and Virginia are blue states now
As someone who regularly visits West Virginia and has a lot of family there, it’s not surprising in the slightest that they’re at the bottom.
Notice how all the states with the least educated folks vote red?
I graduated as the valedictorian of my high school in Arkansas which provided me tuition free college (from Walmart – they made us write yearly thank you letters) at an Arkansas state college. I am grateful for that!
As soon as I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I jumped on a plane and moved to Maryland. That has been one of the best decision of my life!
Have we looked at the exported data? People with a bachelor’s or higher leaving the state?
Colorado only has 5 million people, it is a state with large numbers of tech engineers and mining/ag engineering, so that inflates us a bit in percentages.
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are all remaining true to form, I see.
Something tells me that DC would probably be in-line with other Northeastern cities if you considered only the municipal boundary, not the state.
I’m gonna be honest, this seems really high even for the low states. Do even 30% of adults above 18 go to college, let alone graduate?
Jesus you’d be a bonafide genius in Arkansas with a Masters in anything.
San Miguel county is where Telluride is located and Pitkin has Aspen, which are both known rich people places but I’m still kind of surprised to see them in the top 10. You’d think Boulder at least would have made it, I wonder if it’s because of the university and how many people are students not graduates? interesting
This chart is probably a bit misleading. I grew up in the south and got a bachelors degree in computer science. I moved out west after graduating since that’s where the job market is.
I also know a lot of people that graduated with bachelors and masters that did the same. Plenty of educated people there, but you have to go where the market is for the degree you have.
Could have added the (25 – 30%) and had bottom as <25% – but otherwise like this pair!
Interesting that this map is almost a duplicate of politicial red and blue states. I wonder which ones are most educated?
I like how you can easily find the rural universities on the county map
I love the trend of showing us maps where the south is always the shittiest by every quantifiable metric
I have always thought people in one of those yellow states were dumber than average, and now I have proof!
All the people getting a bachelors degree in Lousiana are leaving the state for better jobs
That’s a lot more then I thought, no wonder schools are rich
My wife and I live in Boston suburb and we feel below average with our bachelors degrees. (I wanted to go back but decided to start a business).
Every one of our neighbors has like a masters or higher.
The state makes you feel like a pariah if you do not have a degree.
![[OC] Portion of American Adults with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/t6x50aitb6qf1-1080x1024.jpg)
36 comments
Data: 2019-2023 American Community Survey accessed via API using tidycensus package in R
Tools: R (packages: dplyr, ggplot2, sf, usmap, tools, ggfx, grid, scales)
Literally every single data map of the US looks like this
Funny thing about oregon is that percentage is about the same as the percent of people that graduate high school.
I exaggerate, but it’s bad.
Probably an instance where excluding DC would be appropriate, since it is just an urban area, whereas even states like MA have some areas which aren’t urban.
Why the high percentage in big bend, Texas?
Wyoming exports kids, many after getting a degree. A lot of those end up on the front range of Colorado.
every one of this map post is really just a poverty/racial map
Huntsville pushing Alabama off the bottom of the list
I don’t know why but I expected the numbers to be higher
When did Colorado become so great regarding median income and education?
I live in Colorado and thought “that’s weird Wyoming is so high”.
I might take this and overlay it with the voting map. Very curious.
I see a lot of this due to the influx of young, degreed people from other states. So, Illinois has the Chicago financial industry. Colorado has Denver and its outliers. Utah has a lifestyle location to draw programmers, etc. Virginia – college centers and US Federal workers? Georgia has HBCU grads relocating to Atlanta? Massachusetts has finance and insurance (and more – as well as the nation’s leader in secondary education outcomes).
But why is Vermont’s percentage so high? Also, the same question applies to Minnesota (I’m assuming a lifestyle choice which helps businesses recruit).
And that’s why Colorado and Virginia are blue states now
As someone who regularly visits West Virginia and has a lot of family there, it’s not surprising in the slightest that they’re at the bottom.
Notice how all the states with the least educated folks vote red?
I graduated as the valedictorian of my high school in Arkansas which provided me tuition free college (from Walmart – they made us write yearly thank you letters) at an Arkansas state college. I am grateful for that!
As soon as I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I jumped on a plane and moved to Maryland. That has been one of the best decision of my life!
https://preview.redd.it/1i1rpoezf6qf1.png?width=1366&format=png&auto=webp&s=1873ae85658b719fcb8e9719f4bd6c32a905a742
Very strongly correlates to:
Have we looked at the exported data? People with a bachelor’s or higher leaving the state?
Colorado only has 5 million people, it is a state with large numbers of tech engineers and mining/ag engineering, so that inflates us a bit in percentages.
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are all remaining true to form, I see.
Something tells me that DC would probably be in-line with other Northeastern cities if you considered only the municipal boundary, not the state.
I’m gonna be honest, this seems really high even for the low states. Do even 30% of adults above 18 go to college, let alone graduate?
Jesus you’d be a bonafide genius in Arkansas with a Masters in anything.
San Miguel county is where Telluride is located and Pitkin has Aspen, which are both known rich people places but I’m still kind of surprised to see them in the top 10. You’d think Boulder at least would have made it, I wonder if it’s because of the university and how many people are students not graduates? interesting
This chart is probably a bit misleading. I grew up in the south and got a bachelors degree in computer science. I moved out west after graduating since that’s where the job market is.
I also know a lot of people that graduated with bachelors and masters that did the same. Plenty of educated people there, but you have to go where the market is for the degree you have.
Could have added the (25 – 30%) and had bottom as <25% – but otherwise like this pair!
Interesting that this map is almost a duplicate of politicial red and blue states. I wonder which ones are most educated?
I like how you can easily find the rural universities on the county map
I love the trend of showing us maps where the south is always the shittiest by every quantifiable metric
I have always thought people in one of those yellow states were dumber than average, and now I have proof!
All the people getting a bachelors degree in Lousiana are leaving the state for better jobs
That’s a lot more then I thought, no wonder schools are rich
My wife and I live in Boston suburb and we feel below average with our bachelors degrees. (I wanted to go back but decided to start a business).
Every one of our neighbors has like a masters or higher.
The state makes you feel like a pariah if you do not have a degree.
Hmm this is way lower than I expected
That’s honestly lower than I thought it would be
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