Welcome to a page where you can pick up data and some illustrations to go with the story we sent showing the change in education levels in your county between 1970 and 2010.

First, if you have any questions or want more information, call or write. You can get Tim Marema at tim@ruralstrategies.org or 865-688-9546; or Bill Bishop at the Daily Yonder, bill.bishop@dailyyonder.com, 512-428-9067.

Now, here is the raw data. Click here and you will download an Excel file that will have all the counties in the U.S. and education levels of the adult population (those over 25 years of age) in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010. This is more data than we used in the story.

If the file doesn’t make sense or you have questions, give us a call or email. Ditto if you have questions about the story.

We have two economists who are familiar with this data and would be willing to talk with you about what it might mean for your community. They are:

1. Judith Stallmann, PHD in Ag Economics. At Truman School of Public Affairs, U. of Missouri. http://truman.missouri.edu/People/JudithStallmann; (573) 882-6455; Email: StallmannJ@missouri.edu

2. Mark Partridge, Ohio State. Economist, Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy. Specialist in community and regional economics and regional development. http://aede.osu.edu/people/partridge.27 Email: partridge.27@osu.edu; Phone: 614-688-4907

Next, we have some charts and a map you may find helpful. If you want to use them, just grab and use. Credit The Daily Yonder.

The first chart shows the percentage of adults in rural, urban and micropolitan counties nationally who have received a college degree from 1970 through 2010. In this chart, you can see that every group of counties has gained in the last 40 years — but the gap between rural and urban counties has widened.

[img:BA702010LINE.jpg]

The next chart shows the percentage of adults in rural, urban and micropolitan counties who have taken some classwork after high school. Here, you can see that the gap between the counties has closed almost entirely.

[img:PostHS.jpg]

Finally, this is the same chart, only we show the percentage of adults who have not graduated from high school.

[img:Lessthanhighschool.jpg]

Finally, here is a map showing the percentage of adults with college degrees in all rural and micropolitan counties. If you click on the map, you’ll get a much larger version.

[img:EdBA2010528.jpg]

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