Virginia residents are more educated than ever before

The statistic, which comes from 2021, represents a 2-percentage-point increase since Lumina’s last survey. The increase occurred despite a drop in the total number of college students in the state.

Though enrollment is down, the number of students staying in college and graduating is up.

There are positive effects to having more college grads in a population. College graduates earn more money and are more likely to have health insurance, pay taxes, vote and volunteer. They are also less likely to depend on public assistance.

An educated workforce also is a factor as Virginia competes with other states to land businesses. Virginia consistently ranks among the best states for business, partly because it ranks highly in education. In 2022, CNBC rated Virginia as the third best state for business. The network ranked Virginia second among the states for education, behind only Massachusetts.

Even though the percentage of residents with a college education grew, Virginia fell in the national ranking from fifth to seventh. Other states experienced a faster population growth, propelling themselves past Virginia, education experts said.

The Virginia residents most likely to pursue a college education live in metropolitan areas or near large universities. In the small Northern Virginia city of Falls Church, which has fewer than 15,000 residents, 83% of residents attained an associate’s degree or more, the most in the state. Arlington County, the city of Lexington, Albemarle County and York County also rank among the localities with the most college-educated residents.

The localities with the fewest college-trained residents are in rural parts of the state. Just 21% of Buchanan County residents have some kind of college education. Sussex County, the city of Emporia and the city of Covington are also among the lowest.

Asian residents are the most likely to have a college degree, with 73% having attained one. That is followed by 55% of white residents, 37% of Black residents and 35% of Latino residents.

All ethnicities have experienced increases in college attainment in the past decade.

The most educated state in the country is Massachusetts, where 62% of residents have some kind of post-high school degree or credential. (Washington, D.C., where 72% of residents have a college education, surpasses every state.)

Virginia slipped from fifth to seventh because Utah (61%) and New Jersey (60%) have experienced faster population growth than Virginia, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia said.

In recent years, the cost of a college education has increased, and fewer high school grads have chosen to enroll. The number of college students dropped 4% in the past decade to 519,000 last fall.

But the need for college-educated workers is not going away, the Lumina Foundation said. The vast majority of jobs being created require education beyond high school.

SCHEV has set a goal for 70% of Virginia residents to have a college degree, certificate or credential by 2030.

While there are fewer students, more of them are staying in college and graduating. The state has one of the best graduation rates in the country, and the number of degrees awarded has grown.

It is unclear what role migration in and out of the state played, SCHEV officials said. In the past decade, the state has fluctuated between a net-positive and net-negative migration of bachelor’s degree holders.

Overall, more residents have moved out of Virginia than into the state during that time.

Virginia is known for its colleges, but the state has struggled to keep students here after they graduate. According to a SCHEV study of public colleges in Virginia, 74% of in-state students and 20% of out-of-state students stayed here after graduation.

More students are pursuing short-term workforce credentials, too. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has urged community colleges to better align their offerings to the industry needs of their communities and attract more students.

“Virginia needs to continue to pursue efforts to expand educational opportunity to more Virginians and to attract people with education and skills to the Commonwealth,” said Peter Blake, director of SCHEV.