Arlington has added another bragging right to its growing list of accolades: second most educated city in the country.
The designation comes from financial news provider Forbes Advisor, which found that Arlington has the highest bachelor’s degree completion rate in the country, with 78.22% of adults 25 and older earning one. Additionally, 42.56% of Arlingtonians hold graduate degrees, and the county has the nation’s lowest high school dropout rate, at 4.28%.
“Arlington’s impressive educational metrics highlight its role as a leader in academic achievement,” Toni Galeassi, a digital public relations strategist at Forbes Advisor, wrote in an email to Arlington Magazine. “With its low dropout rate and high degree attainment, the city sets a standard for educational success.”
Atlanta, home to educational stalwarts such as Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, took the No. 1 spot in the rankings.
“Although Arlington performed well across several areas, the ranking system used weighted metrics. Atlanta scored higher due to stronger performance in the higher-weighted categories, resulting in a final score of 100.00, while Arlington…received a 97.14,” Galeassi explains.
St. Petersburg, Florida, rounded out the top three in Forbes’ list of America’s 10 most educated cities.
The researchers studied several education metrics for the 100 largest U.S. cities by population, based on the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Communities Survey. Metrics factoring into the rankings included each city’s high school dropout rate, the percentage of adults 25 and older with some college education but no degree, and the percentage of adults 25 and older who have bachelor’s and advanced degrees.
The study also accounted for equity by looking at racial and gender college completion gaps. In Arlington, the racial gap between White and non-white degree holders is relatively narrow (-10.18%) compared with other locales, according to the study.
Researchers also used the data to note larger education trends, such as overall growth in college enrollment. Undergraduate enrollment increased by 2.5% nationwide in the spring of 2024. Enrollment at community colleges with a high vocational focus also rose, by almost 18%.
Overall, college enrollment for non-white students is projected to rise by 8% between fall 2020 and fall 2030, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, with Hispanic students expected to make the biggest jump.
In general, more people have degrees today. The nationwide percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds with any postsecondary degree grew to 50% in 2022, up from 43% a decade earlier. Additionally, more women than men are earning bachelor’s degrees: 59% of college grads in the 2021-22 academic year were women.
Racial disparities in educational attainment persist, the report finds. Fewer White students dropped out of high school than their Black, Hispanic and Native American peers. Asian Americans had the lowest dropout rate (1.9%) and the highest college enrollment rate at 61%.
Just 26% of Native American adults ages 18-24 enrolled in college, compared with 33% of Hispanic, 36% of Black and 44% of White students.
Citing a correlation between education and income in cities, the report raises concerns about the cost of college, calling it “a critical issue, with student debt, tuition rates and financial aid representing trending topics in education…. As college costs rise and disparities worsen, alternative higher education options like vocational programs may continue growing in popularity.”