Hispanics Continue to Lag in Educational Attainment

College graduates earn much more than those without a college education, and college graduates are more prevalent in metro than nonmetro areas, which contributes to higher earning levels in metro locales. Recent data from the Current Population Survey show that the metro advantage in college completion rates is growing over time. College completion rates rose across all major racial and ethnic groups in both metro and nonmetro areas between 1996 and 2006. By 2006, high school completion rates for most racial and ethnic groups were 80% or more in nonmetro areas and above 86% in metro areas. However, high school completion rates for Hispanics remained far lower than for other groups.

As with college completion, high school completion rates for Hispanics remained far lower than for other groups, In 2006, 62 percent of prime-age metro Hispanics and just 60 percent of prime-age nonmetro Hispanics had completed high school, helping explain the lower average incomes received by Hispanics in both metro and nonmetro areas.