This graphic explores the rate of higher education by county in the USA. Data are based on adults aged 25 and over. Those counted as having a bachelor’s degree or higher have earned a bachelor’s, graduate, and/or professional degree.

Overall, more women tend to have at least a bachelor’s degree than men. This can be seen by comparing the difference map, or from looking at the histogram. The peak for the men’s data occurs in the 10.1-15% bin, and for women, in the 15.1-20% bin. There are many more counties where ≤10% of men have bachelor’s degrees than women (379 for men, 147 for women). On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, there are slightly more counties where ≥40% of men have bachelor’s degrees than women (130 for men, 98 for women).

Five of the six best educated counties (or county equivalents) are suburbs of Washington, D.C. These are led by Falls Church, VA, (72% have at least a bachelor’s) and Arlington County, VA, (70.7%). Los Alamos County, NM, is the only non-D.C. suburb in the top six (third place with 63.9%). Boulder County, CO, and New York County, NY, are tied for seventh place at 57.7%.

Of the 22 counties that have fewer than 7% of residents with at least a bachelor’s, 21 are in the South. The bottom two counties are Issaquena County, MS, (4.2%) and Brantley County, GA, (4.6%).

There are 1834 counties where more women have at least a bachelor’s degree, 52 where there is a tie, and 1257 where more men have a bachelor’s.

Data source: http://factfinder2.census.gov/ (Table S1501)