Silicon Valley is the third most educated region in America in 2017, according to a new study from WalletHub.
The website looked at the share of adults 25 and older who have a bachelor’s degree and found that only Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan’s flagship campus, and the Washington, DC, area are more educated than the San Jose-Sunnvyale-Santa Clara region.
According to the study, 71 percent of adults 25 and older in the area have at least some college experience, 47 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 21 percent have a graduate degree or higher.
As WalletHub notes, citing data from the Economic Policy Institute, degree holders generally earn more in their lifetimes than non-degree holders and pay more in taxes. According to the report, in states with the least educated workers, the median wage is $15 an hour. In states where at least 40 percent of working adults have a bachelor’s or more, it’s around $20 an hour. Median household income for Santa Clara County is more than $96,000, according to U.S. Census data, and per capita income is nearly $44,000.
California is well represented at both ends of WalletHub’s ranking. The San Francisco-Hayward-Oakland region is toward the top as the eighth most educated region. But six of the 10 least educated regions are also in the Golden State. They include Stockton-Lodi, Salinas, Fresno, Modesto, Bakersfield and Visalia-Porterville.
WalletHub ultimately compared 150 of the nation’s major metropolitan areas to determine where the most educated Americans choose to live. In addition to looking at college attainment, the site looked at the quality of the public school systems in those areas and racial and gender attainment gaps.
Silicon Valley ranks relatively high when it comes to the quality of the public school system. But the region falls to 29th place when it comes to the racial attainment gap between black and white residents.
