Educational Attainment in San Juan County

San Juan County has a high proportion of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher when compared to nearby counties, to the state, or to the nation as a whole.

We hypothesized that because San Juan County is a retirement destination, the high fraction of residents who hold bachelor’s degrees might be driven by college-educated individuals moving here upon retirement. In addition, the county does not have a 4-year college or university (in contrast to King and Whatcom counties), which might reduce the number of young college graduates in the county.

To test these ideas, we plotted the percentage of the population with a bachelor’s degree or higher split by age group. The percentage of the population holding a bachelor’s degree or higher is low for the youngest age group, and it is quite high for the oldest age group (in comparison to the state and national averages). However, the fraction of the San Juan County populace with a bachelor’s is still high relative to neighboring counties (other than King), Washington State, or the USA for intermediate age groups (35 – 64 yr olds).

Data for these plots come from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates via the American Fact Finder. Error bars are 90 percent confidence bounds calculated as described in this pdf document.