18. Minnesota
Population: 5,611,179
Capital: St. Paul
Percent holding advanced degrees: 12.5
Median household income: $65,699
Minnesota
This state’s economy is deeply entwined in the early exploitation of its natural resources. Iron ore and timber, as well as fertile soil. These initial industries led to a stimulus in the growth of industries such as processing plants and agricultural implement manufacturing.
With declines in these secondary industries during the middle of the 20th century, Minnesota, too, turned to the development of service-related industries. It is these same service industries that, as in other states, create opportunities for those of higher education to find job security with promising prospects.
Where Minnesota differs from many states that underwent a similar conversion to service industries is that its primary industry remains agriculture, and by remaining at the forefront of agricultural technologies, the state successfully draws educated individuals via agriculture in capacities such as veterinary science agricultural biology.
17. Kansas
Population: 2,911,505
Capital: Topeka
Percent holding advanced degrees: 12.6
Median household income: $56,951
Kansas
There’s no place like home, and funny enough the line from the classic film seems to ring true for the state of Kansas. With higher retention rates when it comes to citizens holding advanced degrees, Kansas benefits from a higher than expected skilled labor force.
What makes this statistic all the more striking is that Kansas has not seen any notable growth in employment over the past decade. Furthermore, the primary fields of employment are agricultural, with less economic diversity than most of the states on our list.
There are a couple of noteworthy companies, particularly in the manufacturing industry, which may account for the state’s higher levels of educated individuals per capita. It is worth noting that some analysts accuse the very same statistics regarding population numbers of inflating the numbers correlating with levels of education.
