A Big Texas City Lands as One of the Dumbest Places in the US

Here we go again. It's not Dallas, TX nor San Antonio, TX, but one major Texas city is getting national attention for landing on a list of America's least educated zip codes.

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Before we get into the numbers, a disclaimer of sorts: a degree doesn't measure how smart a person is, I've met idiots with lots of degrees. And on the other hand, folks who have zero formal education who are quite smart.

Now that we've got that out of the way, the website 247wallst.com has published its list of The Least Educated ZIP Codes in the Country, it's certainly a dubious list and one that has listed a Texas city zip code at No. 12.

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The distinction goes to the Texas zip code 77093, located in America's fourth largest city, Houston, TX.

Nearly one-third of American adults over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, which seems to serve as as a buffer against unemployment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "the unemployment rate among adults with a four-year college education was 5.5% in 2020. Meanwhile, the jobless rate among those with no more than a high school diploma was 9.0%."

And it's true, there is a lot of money to be earned for folks without a college degree, but a fact to keep in mind is that "the average weekly wage for a college-educated worker in the United States is about 67% higher than it is for those with no more than a high school diploma."

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The website reports that only 3% of people living in the 77093 area code have a bachelor's degree, and less than half have a high school diploma. Here is how their numbers break down:

> Location: Houston, Texas
> Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 3.0%
> Adults with at least a high school diploma or equivalent: 47.0% — 26th lowest of 20,112 ZIP codes
> Median household income: $31,301 — 667th lowest of 20,099 ZIP codes
> Estimated unemployment rate 2015-2019: 4.8% — 9,401st highest of 20,109 ZIP codes (tied)
> Population: 47,135

What are your thoughts?