The District of Columbia leads the 50 states in the percentage of residents with advanced degrees, but compared with the city’s surrounding suburbs, Washingtonians are downright average.
Arlington County earned the region’s boasting rights for its nearly 37 percent of residents with graduate or professional degrees, according to the 2008 American Community Survey, released late Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That compares with about 27 percent in the District.
In Alexandria and Montgomery County, chances are almost one in three that the adult you pass on the street has a master’s degree or better — both jurisdictions have a rate of about 29 percent. Fairfax County follows at about 28 percent, and Loudoun County at 22 percent.
“It’s a great constituency to represent, and a challenging one because it’s such a well-informed group,” said Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews. “You have to be very well-prepared because there’s always someone in the room who knows more about whatever is being discussed than you do.”
Compared with other states, Maryland ranks third with about 15 percent of its residents having earned an advanced degree, behind only the District and Massachusetts. Virginia is tied with New York for fifth place, with about 14 percent.
As the number of high achievers tops the nation, however, the number of area residents 25 years and older with not even a high school diploma remains low, and in some places is growing.
In Prince George’s County, nearly 15 percent of adults never finished high school, followed by about 14 percent in the District. In Alexandria, the figure is about 11 percent, while even the traditionally affluent suburbs of Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington have about 9 percent of adults without any degree at all. In those three areas, too, the numbers are up by at least one percentage point since 2006.
