How Educated is Michigan? New Study Reveals Numbers

Michigan is home to several major universities, the most famous being Michigan and Michigan State, so you would think we would be one of the most educated states in the U.S. In fact, we're also home to the No. 1 most educated city in the U.S., as we reported last year based on a previous WalletHub study, that city being Ann Arbor. But, as a state, where do we rank in terms of education?

WalletHub has once again put together a list about education, this time being 2022's Most & Least Educated States in America. "For millions of Americans, a good education is the ticket to a better future," they state in the study. "College opens doors to more career opportunities, higher earnings and new social connections, among other benefits. But how much schooling one receives also matters to some extent. Generally, the higher the level of education one completes, the higher their income potential and the lower their chances of unemployment become."

In the study, the noted that the roughest areas for education in the past two years has been the pandemic, and that colleges "currently face the struggle of balancing campus safety with returning to in-person classes," they add. "Amid these struggles, some states are able to provide safe, quality education more than others."

In this study, WalletHub looked at all 50 states across 18 metrics that looked at educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races. The No. 1 state in the whole U.S., according to the study, is Massachusetts, while the state at the bottom of the tally is West Virginia. So, where is Michigan? According to the study, Michigan is right in the middle at No. 25 on the list. On quality of education, we ranked No. 21, and on educational attainment, we came in at No. 26. It's worth noting that we were also labeled as a state with a "high education level and low income level" in the study. Find the full study here.

If you're curious which cities in Michigan have residents with the highest median household income, we have the list for you. It's surprising how much median household income differs from one city to the next. For example, the highest median household income in Michigan is $108,432.33, and the lowest is $11,667. I guess that just goes to show how diverse Michigan is demographically and how some areas of the state have a higher cost of living.

The crew at Zip Atlas has published an updated list of those median household incomes using a variety of data. The site offers a "structured collection of zip code, area code, city and state demographic, social and economic profiles," according to their official website. They add, "Here you will find employment and unemployment rates, industry statistics, household and personal income reports, property value assessment, housing unit occupancy and vacancy breakdown, mortgage and rent analysis, age, gender, ancestry and racial profiles, education attainment levels and school enrolment among many others." In other words, they've complied a range of data in different areas in one locale, including what Michiganders across the state are bringing home in their paychecks.

According to the Zip Atlas study, none of the top 10 cities in the U.S. with the highest median household income are located in Michigan. No. 1 is Short hills, New Jersey, at $185,466, followed by Purchase, New York and Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. In fact, Michigan doesn't even have one city in the top 100 cities in the U.S. That said, Michigan does have some cities that fall inside the top 200 and 300 cities with the highest tally.

So, which Michigan cities have the highest median household incomes? View the list of cities below all the way up to No. 1, and see if your city made the cut. For more information, visit the Zip Atlas website here.

$65,308.00

$65,667.00

$65,688.00

$66,224.00

$66,500.00

$66,667.00

$66,802.00

$66,875.00

$66,940.00

$66,979.33

$67,360.00

$67,463.00

$67,593.00

$67,670.50

$67,875.00

$68,465.50

$68,783.00

$69,180.00

$70,133.00

$70,282.00

$70,527.33

$71,964.00

$72,828.50

$72,983.00

$73,051.00

$73,230.50

$74,069.50

$74,280.50

$74,377.00

$74,932.00

$75,452.00

$75,671.50

$75,680.33

$76,491.00

$77,274.00

$78,982.00

$79,262.00

$79,579.00

$80,555.00

$81,108.00

$81,864.00

$82,886.00

$83,585.33

$83,902.00

$87,062.00

$87,507.00

$89,508.00

$93,950.67

$97,437.00

$108,432.33