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Table 1 MSAs with the largest and smallest shares of college graduates.

From: The evolution of wage inequality within local U.S. labor markets

 

Level in 1980

Change from 1980 to 2019

College population

College premium

Wage inequality

Change in college population

Change in college premium

Change in wage inequality

MSAs with the largest college population in 1980

      

Ann Arbor, MI

38.3

28.6

36.1

15.5

24.8

14.6

Washington D.C.

35.3

49.4

40.4

15.4

17.2

14.6

Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, IL

31.6

28.9

36.2

14

16.5

6.6

Austin, TX

30.8

44.3

36.4

10.9

34.2

16.2

Gainesville, FL

30.3

44.1

35.8

12.3

12.8

11.6

Fort Collins-Loveland, CO

29.8

35.0

37.9

15.4

22.5

8.8

Raleigh-Durham, NC

28.5

42.7

33.5

15.4

19.1

17.9

Denver-Boulder, CO

28.2

41.7

38.9

13.9

17.7

11.2

San Jose, CA

28.2

47.9

38.6

21.3

31

25

San Francisco-Oakland-Vallejo, CA

27.5

36.7

40.2

18.1

10

18.6

MSAs with the smallest college population in 1980

      

Ocala, FL

9.9

38.1

38.6

7

46.3

3.2

Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, TX

10.4

44.3

38.3

6.8

24.8

8.2

Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, CA

10.9

48.4

41.2

2.9

20.8

4.5

Saginaw-Bay City-Midland, MI

11.1

28.8

35.7

10.8

28.5

4.3

Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA

11.3

40.3

30.8

15.5

25.5

5.3

Youngstown-Warren, OH

11.4

27.8

36.6

10.6

21.4

0.9

Joplin, MO

11.4

39.7

33.6

10.3

29.3

4.7

McAllen-Edinburg-Pharr-Mission, TX

11.8

46.3

42.1

6.1

24.8

3.0

Yakima, WA

12.2

30.4

41.5

2.7

42.8

– 2.0

Lakeland-Winterhaven, FL

12.6

44.9

37.7

3.8

43.2

– 0.2

  1. The college population share is defined as the share of the total working population not enrolled in school between the ages of 25 and 65 years old, who have a college degree or more. The change in the college population is the change in the working population share of college graduates between 1980 and 2019. The change in wage inequality is the change in wage inequality between 1980 and 2019 measured as the variance of log real weekly earnings of all workers 18 to 65 years old. All rates are multiplied by 100