Colorado is a state filled with well-educated residents who are able to turn their formal knowledge into solid incomes.

Where in Colorado will we find most of these high-education and high-income Coloradans? Two places. The Denver metropolitan area and the ski counties way up in the Rocky Mountains.

Better late than never, the 2020 U.S. Census figures, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, affirm that Colorado remains the state with the second highest percentage of college and university bachelor’s degrees (or higher) in the nation. Colorado’s 40.9% is topped only by Massachusetts’s 43.7%.

Maryland is in third place in the percentage of bachelor’s degrees sweepstakes at 40.2%. New Jersey is fourth with 39.7%.

With 40.9% of its residents with bachelor’s degrees, Colorado is 8.8 points higher than the figure for the United States of 32.1 percent.

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Those college educations have turned into reasonably high salaries and solid investment earnings for many Coloradans. Our state ranked eleventh of the 50 states with a median household income of $72,331. Ten states that ranked higher than Colorado were either on the East Coast (Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire) or on the West Coast region (California, Washington state, Alaska, and Hawaii).

Or look at it this way. In “inland” America, that great mass of states between the East Coast and the West Coast states, Colorado’s median household income of $72,331 was the highest. We were higher than such populous mid-nation states as Ohio ($56,602), Michigan ($57,144), Illinois ($65,886), and even Texas ($61,874)). All of these states have larger and better known public universities than Colorado.

At a median household income of $72, 331, Colorado household incomes were $9,488 higher than the United States median household income of $62,843.

It is interesting to note that El Paso County, including the city of Colorado Springs, has a median household income of $68,779. That is just below the Colorado figure of $72,331. At the same time, El Paso County has a bachelor’s degree percentage of 38.5%. Here again, that is just below the Colorado figure of 40.9%.”

But bachelor’s degrees and high household incomes are not evenly distributed throughout Colorado. They are particularly concentrated in the Denver Metropolitan area and in counties containing nationally famous ski resorts.

The highest ranking Colorado county for bachelor’s degrees is Boulder County, at 62.1%. That makes sense, because Boulder County is home to the state’s flagship university. Boulder County also is in the Denver metropolitan Area.

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But look which county is in second place in Colorado in terms of percentage of bachelor’s degrees. It is Pitkin County, which contains the cities of Aspen and Snowmass and their various skiing facilities. In skiing-centered Pitkin County, 60.8% of the residents have a diploma from a college or university. Many of the tourist industry “help” in Pitkin County, however, have to live “down valley” in neighboring counties.

The top nine counties for bachelor’s degrees in Colorado alternate between the ski counties and Denver metro. In third place is San Miguel County (county seat — Telluride) with the Telluride ski area at 59.4%.

In fourth place is Douglas County (county seat — Castle Rock) in Denver metro at 58%.

And so it goes. For fifth place, it is up into the Rocky Mountains for Gunnison County (county seat – Gunnison) with the Crested Butte ski area at 56.2% with bachelor’s degrees. For sixth place, it is back down to Denver metro with Broomfield County (county seat — Broomfield) at 55.7%.

Next come two more ski counties. In seventh place is Summit County (county seat — Breckinridge) with Breckinridge and other assorted ski areas at 52.4%. In eighth place is Routt County (county seat — Steamboat Springs) with the Steamboat ski area at 49.8%.

Ninth highest in the percentage of bachelor’s degrees rankings in Colorado is Denver, the center city of the Denver metropolitan area, at 49.4%. As a major urban center, Denver contains a variety of residents with wide and varying amounts of higher education. High levels of education on the part of some Denverites help to raise the Denver figure to a reasonably high level.

Completing the Denver metropolitan area are Jefferson County (county seat – Golden) at 45.2% and Arapahoe County (county seat – Littleton) at 42.8%. Another important ski county is Eagle County (county seat — Eagle) with the Vail ski area at 47.2%.

If you want to demonstrate that a college or university education results in a higher income, Colorado makes a good case. Of the ten Colorado counties with the highest percentage of bachelor’s degrees, six ranked in the top ten for median household income.

Three of the six counties were in the Denver metropolitan area: Douglas County (Castle Rock) — $119,730; Broomfield County (Broomfield) — $96,416; and Boulder County (Boulder) — $83,019. The other three counties were Rocky Mountain ski counties: Summit County (Breckinridge) — $79,277; Pitkin County (Aspen) — $78,935; and Routt County (Steamboat) — $77,443.

Other counties in the top ten for income, but not in the top ten for bachelor’s degrees, were Jefferson and Arapahoe from Denver metro and Eagle from ski country. Jefferson County (Golden) had a median household income of $82,986. Arapahoe County (Littleton) registered at $77,469. Eagle County  registered at $84,790.

To get a view of how Denver metro and the ski counties compare to the remainder of Colorado, we listed the bachelor’s degree percentages and median household income figures by Colorado regions, ranked by bachelor’s degrees:

Denver Metro;

49%, $82,986.

Western Slope/Ski Resorts;

49%, $69,942.

Front Range;

44%, $73,016.

Front Range/Not Denver Metro

(Larimer, Weld, El Paso,

Teller, and Pueblo counties);

37.7%, $68,779.

Eastern Mountains;

32%, $54,536.

Western Slope/No Skiing;

26.7%, $53,289

Southern Colorado;

21.6%, $38,354.

Eastern Plains;

19%, $48,304.

Because it is ranked #2 for percentage of bachelor’s degrees and #11 for median household income (of 50 states), Colorado residents should be aware of their state’s blessings. We have more trained brain power and more spending ability than most places in the United States. It is significant that our magnificent ski areas, in particular, are attracting well-educated and well-financed new residents.

What is often called the Colorado “paradox” should be mentioned. This refers to the reality that Colorado taxpayers invest much less than most other states in their public higher education system. Yet we wind up with the second highest percentage of college and university graduates. This happens probably because as many as one-third of these college-educated Coloradans are imported from other states and, in some cases, from other countries. We are still a state of immigrants.

Colorado is lucky in this regard, yet it is a poor excuse for underfunding our fine state institutions of higher learning.

The 2020 Census calls us to make more of what we already are in education and to share our comparatively high incomes throughout our state.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy write about Colorado and national politics. To check census data for your county and others, go to Google, then type or say “2020 Census Quick Facts CountyName County, Colorado.