Educational Attainment

Compared to national, state, and peer data, Spartanburg County has markedly low educational status (Figure 9).  Of Spartanburg County adults over age 25, 13.2% have less than a high school education, compared to 8.7% of adults nationwide.

Educational status is highly correlated with income, as demonstrated in Table 22.  In fact, in South Carolina, an increase of 1% in the population with a Bachelor’s degree is associated with an increase in per capita income of $314.

The correlation coefficients above represent an almost perfect positive correlation between educational attainment and income.  That is, for every incremental increase in education, there is a corresponding incremental increase in earnings.