Educated people tend to cluster in certain cities

According to Census

David Crossley, Sep 27, 11.

Despite a decade of technological advances that make it possible to work almost anywhere, many of the nation’s most educated people continue to cluster in a handful of dominant metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, and California’s Silicon Valley, according to census data released Thursday and reported by the Wall Street Journal:

WSJ’s Conor Dougherty reports new US Census data indicates despite the ability to telecommute from almost anywhere, skilled workers are moving away from rural areas to cities. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

“In a knowledge economy, success breeds success,” said Alan Berube, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Of the largest 100 metropolitan areas, those with the highest percentage of college graduates in 2000 outpaced in education gains areas with lower percentages of college grads. For instance, the 10 cities with the highest share of their population holding a bachelor’s degree or higher saw that share jump by an average of 4.6 percentage points over the decade, while the bottom 10 saw their share grow 3.1 percentage points. MORE