Rural Americans are better educated than a decade or two ago, with more people attending college and fewer without a high school diploma. Yet even with a hefty increase in the portion of rural women with a college degree, urban America is moving farther ahead in the overall share of adults with a college degree, says a USDA report.
One-third of adults over the age of 25 in urban areas have a college degree, compared to 19 percent in rural areas, says the report, “Rural education at a glance.” That’s a gap of 14 percentage points. In 2000, cities had an 11-point advantage, 26-15. In the intervening years, college attendance has increased in rural areas, so that half of adults now have some college experience — an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree — versus 41 percent in 2000.
“This gap may be due to the higher pay offered in urban areas to workers with college degrees or the fact that some rural students choose to attend college and subsequently work in urban areas after graduation,” says USDA. Wherever they live, Americans earn more when they have a higher level of education.
“Educational attainment is highly correlated with measures of regional economic prosperity,” said USDA. “Rural counties with the lowest levels of educational attainment face higher poverty, child poverty, unemployment, and population loss than other rural counties.” In 2000, a quarter or rural adults did not have a high school diploma. The rate is now 15 percent. The portion of adults with a high school education was steady at 36 percent from 2000 to 2015.