How Smart is Your City? - Educational Attainment Mix for Ga Counties

[andremurra]

I did an analysis of educational attainment percentage of population age 25+ per Ga Counties. I extracted my data from the Census2000. I am highlighting counties with a central city of an urban statistical area.

Percentage of Population (age 25+) with at least a Bachelors Degree: Top 20

41.38 - Fulton (Atlanta)

39.82 - Clarke (Athens)

39.78 - Oconee

39.75 - Cobb

36.30 - DeKalb

36.17 - Fayette

34.58 - Forsyth

34.05 - Gwinnett

31.95 - Columbia

26.98 - Cherokee

25.41 - Bulloch (Statesboro)

25.01 - Chatham (Savannah)

25.01 - Chattahoochee

23.77 - Glynn (Brunswick)

23.35 - Rockdale

21.34 - Bibb (Macon)

21.14 - Harris

20.60 - Coweta

20.32 - Muscogee (Columbus)

19.75 - Houston (Warner Robins)

Percentage of Population (age 25+) with at least a Masters Degree: Top 20

18.87 - Clarke (Athens)

17.08 - Oconee

14.73 - Fulton (Atlanta)

13.56 - DeKalb

12.26 - Fayette

11.98 - Columbia

11.88 - Bulloch (Statesboro)

11.73 - Cobb

9.97 - Gwinnett

8.70 - Glynn (Brunswick)

8.51 - Forsyth

8.38 - Chatham (Savannah)

8.11 - Sumter

8.00 - Towns

7.97 - Muscogee (Columbus)

7.87 - Houston (Warner Robins)

7.59 - Bibb (Macon)

7.53 - Rabun

7.49 - Rockdale

7.34 - Cherokee

Percentage of Population (age 25+) with at least a Professional Degree: Top 20

8.03 - Clarke (Athens)

6.92 - Oconee

5.20 - Bulloch (Statesboro)

4.91 - DeKalb

4.89 - Fulton (Atlanta)

4.46 - Columbia

4.09 - Calhoun

3.37 - Glynn (Brunswick)

3.25 - Fayette

3.19 - Cobb

3.08 - Chatham (Savannah)

2.99 - Bibb (Macon)

2.90 - Rabun

2.89 - Towns

2.71 - Richmond (Augusta)

2.70 - Gwinnett

2.65 - Rockdale

2.60 - Hall (Gainesville)

2.58 - Lowndes (Valdosta)

2.57 - Lumpkin

Percentage of Population (age 25+) with a Doctorate Degree: Top 20

5.81 - Clarke (Athens)

3.99 - Oconee

2.94 - Bulloch (Statesboro)

2.24 - Calhoun

1.76 - DeKalb

1.56 - Lumpkin

1.46 - Columbia

1.46 - Hancock

1.32 - Fulton (Atlanta)

1.20 - Lowndes (Valdosta)

1.16 - Peach

1.10 - Tift (Tifton)

1.06 - Greene

1.00 - Sumter

0.98 - White

0.98 - Carroll

0.98 - Fayette

0.95 - Baldwin (Milledgeville)

0.94 - Chatham (Savannah)

0.93 - Clinch

I hope this information interests someone since I went to all the trouble of posting it. I think that percentages of educational attainment are very important in comparison to total number of persons with specific degrees because a greater percentage of educated people in a community can better balance out all the less-educated people.

[monsoon]

Thanks for the work. Can you draw some sort of conclusions to help start a conversation on the topic?

[andremurra]

Well I am currently working on an applied econometrics project to determine if the percentage mix of educational attainment of the population is dependent on another variable. I am currently conducting this research at the state level for all of the fifty states, but will eventually apply the model to the counties in Ga. I will note, however, that a GIS map for each educational attainment category will be very interesting, and I will probably make one soon.

Conclusions:

Bachelors degrees seem to be most concentrated in North Georgia and East Georgia.

Masters degrees seem to be most concentrated in the greater Atlanta area and Coastal Georgia areas.

Athens and Statesboro boast the highest-educated mix of a labor force. Atlanta and Augusta follow from a small distance.

Again, I think a GIS map would do a lot more justice to any conclusions we can come up with. Ill see what I can come up with in regard to a GIS map.

[DaltonGA]

I know Whitfield and neighboring Murray have low higher education attainment among Georgia's largest counties. Primarily this is due to a blue-collar environment due to the concentration of the carpet industy and the recent influx of Hispanics have a low education attainment. The positive news is the areas state college, Dalton State is seeing strong enrollment increases, GED attainment is high, and generally by the second or third generation, the offspring of immigrants do tend to pursue higher education. The downside is there are few jobs requiring college degree beyond being a teacher, accountant, doctor or lawyer and the result is a brain drain among those who attend college. I'm sure Hall County has a similar demographic pattern, but the spread of suburban Atlanta into Hall has reversed some the effects. The heavily military counties-Chattahoochee and Liberty also have low attainment.

[Spartan]

While its no suprise that suburban Atlanta counties dominate the list, I'm pleasantly suprised to see some smaller counties on the list too- especially with doctorate degrees (e.g.: Lowndes, Tift, Bulloch, Baldwin). I'm guessing there has to be a reason for that. Bulloch having Statesboro and GA Southern makes sense, and I guess Valdosta with Valdosta State, but what is in Tifton to make it stand out? What about some of the other smaller counties?

[socaguy]

I know Tifton has a big Agricultural Center. Not sure if it is a part of UGA or not. I'll bet that has something to do with its' high percentage of degrees.

[Spartan]

You mean ABAC? I don't know much about that place, but I didn't think it had doctoral degrees.

[socaguy]

Not sure, ive just seen the place, (Agrirama) passing through Tifton on the way to Florida. I (Think) that area has alot of agricultural experimental stations for UGA. There's bound to be some Phd's around there for that.

[Topher1]

Tifton does indeed have a UGA branch campus (College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) that looks fairly large from the highway. Like the rest of you guys, I have no idea if that is the reason for the advanced degree levels...

Facts from the website: 445 employees, 100 students, and a high estimated number of direct spin-off jobs...

[DaltonGA]

Tifton does indeed have a UGA branch campus (College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) that looks fairly large from the highway. Like the rest of you guys, I have no idea if that is the reason for the advanced degree levels...

Facts from the website: 445 employees, 100 students, and a high estimated number of direct spin-off jobs...