Better Quality of Life
Per capita personal income is higher in states with ranked universities than it is in states without ranked universities. According to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analyses, none of the “bottom 10” (i.e., states with lowest per capita personal income, which is where South Carolina ranks) are home to top-tier universities. Nine of the “top 10” claim at least one ranked university. Per capita personal income was higher in the 14 metropolitan areas with top-20 universities ($34,917) than in the United States as a whole ($29,760) or in the Greenville-Spartanburg area ($24,403) in 2000.
But income isn’t the only indicator of quality of life. Compared to the United States as a whole, states with a top-20 university:
- have slower rates of population growth (7.3 percent from 1990-1999 vs. 9.8 percent). States with more than one top university grew even more slowly (5.3 percent).
- have a more educated population. Residents of the 14 metropolitan areas with top-20 universities are more educated (29.5 percent were college grads in 2000) than residents of the United States as a whole (24.4 percent) or of the Greenville-Spartanburg area (20.7 percent).
- have lower rates of teen pregnancy (10.4 percent vs. 11.8 percent) and out-of-wedlock births (32.4 percent vs. 33.2 percent in 2000). In South Carolina those rates are 15.3 percent and 39.8 percent, respectively.
- have lower crime rates (3.8 percent vs. 4.1 percent in 2000). States with more than one top university have even lower crime rates (3.5 percent) despite being more urban. South Carolina’s crime rate in the year 2000 was 5.2 percent. (Source: Walker School of Economics, Clemson University)