Which Alabama counties have the most business degrees?
When it comes to bachelor’s degrees, Alabama is in business.
About 24% of first-time bachelors degrees in Alabama are in the business field, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That makes the business field the second most popular field for the state’s first -time bachelor’s degree, behind science and engineering alone.
Related: This is the highest paying bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama
In nine Alabama counties, business degrees are the most common type of bachelor’s for people 25 years and older with a bachelor’s or higher. Those counties are Greene, Dallas, Conecuh, Shelby, Crenshaw, Butler, Russell, Talladega and Pickens.
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No county has a higher rate of business degrees than Greene County, in the Black Belt region of Alabama. About 34% of people 25 and older there with at least a bachelor’s degree earned a business degree – 10 percentage points higher than the entire state.
Greene is one of several Black Belt counties that rank high on the list. One reason for this is the relatively small population in the areas – especially people with a college education. Census data shows that there will be only 584 people in Greene County with at least one bachelor’s degree by 2020. Census data shows that 199 of those earned a degree in a business field – but the margin of error means that those numbers are not 100% accurate. However, trends show that business degrees are common in Greene – and other Black Belt counties, including Dallas County, are home to Selma.
But these rural areas aren’t the only ones where business degrees are popular. Shelby County, one of the richest counties in Alabama, also ranks high on the list. More than 28% of people with at least a bachelor’s degree have a business degree.
At the other end of the spectrum, two neighboring counties in southern Alabama have the lowest rates of business degrees. Only 14% of bachelor’s degrees in Washington and Choctaw County, both north of Mobile, are in business.
Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected]and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories HERE.
