16. California
Population: 39,557,045
Capital: Sacramento
Percent holding advanced degrees: 12.6
Median household income: $67,169
California
As mentioned, California is the epicenter of financial income in the US. This speaks to the increasing understanding, both nationally and globally that culture is America’s largest export. Aside from the Hollywood cash cow, California also plays host to the HQs of many of the US’s top tech companies. Silicon Valley in the southern of the San Francisco Bay is synonymous with cutting edge technology startups and billion-dollar buy-outs.
The culmination of these factors has set the GDP of California higher than that of all but four nations. You did not misread, California, on its own, is the fifth-largest economy in the world. This makes it more surprising then that CA isn’t right at the top of the list of most educated states.
In data discerned from an interesting 2019 survey analysts found that there is a high specificity to the fields of education sought after in CA. Tech industry employees often jokingly refer to the ‘game-changers’ all being college dropouts, eg. the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg.
15. Oregon
Population: 4,190,713
Capital: Salem
Percent holding advanced degrees: 12.7
Median household income: $56,119
Oregon
With extensive forests covering a massive amount of the state of Oregon, it stands to reason that lumber and forestry form the backbone of this state’s economy.
Supplying about 10% of the country’s lumber, a number of companies and corporations have formed around the industry. In conjunction with mining, natural resources dominate the state’s GDP.
This is not to say that there are no other industries in the state of Oregon. An emergence in high tech production has seen the creation of innumerable advanced employment opportunities.
We would be careless not to mention that Nike, the global sportswear brand has been headquartered in Oregon since the company was founded.
