A small study by the Brookings Institution looked at the percentage of people age 25 and over in the 100 largest U.S. metro areas who held at least a bachelor’s degree in 2010, versus in 1970. It reveals a trend for college graduates to concentrate in a set of metropolitan areas that include the greater DC and Baltimore regions. Of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area had the highest percentage (46.8%) and the Baltimore-Towson area had the 14th highest (35.1%). Baltimore had one of the largest increases in the percentage between 1970 and 2010.
"Metro areas that enjoyed the most substantial jumps in their college degree attainment ranks included many, like Dayton, that lost a tremendous share of their manufacturing between 1970 and 2010. But because regions like Worcester, Baltimore, Charlotte, and Pittsburgh shed much of that base earlier than other manufacturing centers, they have had more time to build services-oriented economies in sectors like health, professional services, higher education, and finance, and to grow, attract, and retain highly educated populations to fill those jobs."
A story in the New York Times, A Gap in College Graduates Leaves Some Cities Behind, discusses the results of the analysis and what they might mean.