College and advanced degrees by state

[muon2]

New Mexico is interesting.  #40 in college grads, but #14 in postgrads.  Must be Los Alamos? 

And #5 for PhD's.  The educated in New Mexico are very educated.  Lots of science PhD's among them. 

The top 5 states for doctorates: Massachusetts (2.86%), Maryland (2.63%), Virginia (1.88%), Vermont (1.87%), New Mexico (1.82%).

https://www.socialexplorer.com/blog/post/population-with-doctorate-degrees-in-the-u-s-11182

Obviously lots of scientists, academics and researchers in Massachusetts and the DC area.

It's not just Los Alamos. ABQ has the Sandia National Labs which also supports a lot of PhDs. The wealth of brainpower in the state 20+ years ago led to a state and federal law that permitted NM businesses to rent talent from the two big labs to solve problems when there was no NM company that offered the service. NM companies had been relying on CA for consulting. I was briefed on how it was working as part of a workshop on incubator technology parks at Sandia in 2001.

[muon2]

Difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin is pretty stark, given the two state's otherwise very similar demographics. 

They are more different than one realizes at first glance. The key difference is that WI has a stretch of the Rust Belt along Lake Michigan, and a lot of its population lives there. It's very unlike the culture of WI west of there.