State’s Educational Level to Rise

If recent trends are any indication, look for the state’s educational level to move up and maybe the per capita income to increase.

Annette Watters, manager of the State Data Center at The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said people moving to Alabama lately tend to be well-educated, and she expects that trend to continue.

“For example, about 21 percent of Alabama’s adult population has a college degree or more,” Watters said. “But about 32 percent of people who moved here from a different state last year had a college education, as did 35 percent of people who moved here from abroad. People who came to Alabama from another state last year tended to have high incomes – more than 17 percent had incomes above $50,000. People who move around within the state, or people who come here from abroad, are more likely to have low incomes.”

But, to look at it another way, Watters said, “Only a small proportion of the total population of Alabama came here from another state within the past year – 2.9 percent. If we want more college graduates with high earning power, we can’t depend on importing them from somewhere else – we can educate our home folks who like living here. About 18 percent of Alabamians who didn’t move anywhere had incomes in the $50,000-and-above range—and our stay-putters are the biggest proportion of our residents.”

States that export the most residents to Alabama are other Southern states – Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana. “South Carolina and Kentucky contribute somewhat fewer, but there is a long, long history of people from both those states being attracted to Alabama,” Watters said.