Have a college degree? It matters most in these 5 cities
While the worth of a bachelor’s degree may have plateaued since 2010 having one is still more valuable in certain U.S. cities compared to others.
College degree holders are already likely to earn more than their degree-less counterparts, but the effects are amplified in certain cities. A new study released by MagnifyMoney found that those with college degrees are more likely to find employment, become homeowners or secure health insurance coverage than their peers elsewhere in these five cities.
San Jose, Calif., topped the list, offering the biggest earnings-and-opportunities boost for people who graduated from a four-year college. In the California tech-hub, where more than half of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher, the median income was about 83 percent higher than those for non-degree holders.
That city was closely followed by Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Raleigh, N.C. and Austin, Texas.
But a college degree isn’t always correlated with a higher income. In Las Vegas, where more than 22 percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, a degree only increases median income by about 17 percent. A college degree matters the least in Riverside, Calif., Las Vegas, Buffalo, N.Y., Pittsburgh and Louisville, Ky., according to the study.