In this weekend’s Times Magazine, I have a column explaining the tight link between education and income for religious groups in this country. The most educated groups, like Hindus and Jews, are the most affluent, while the least educated are the least affluent. The chart with the column has more details.
On Twitter, Matt Chingos, an education scholar and the co-author of an excellent book on college completion, asked whether the relationship depended on the exact cutoffs for income and educational attainment. It does not.
The chart in the magazine looks at the percentage of people with a four-year college degree and the percentage of people with family income of at least $75,000 a year, using data from Pew. Here are the percentages if the education cutoff is changed to at least some college (including a two-year degree) and the family income cutoff is changed to $50,000:
| %, at least some college | %, family income $50k+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Hindus | 84 | 80 |
| Reform Jews | 83 | 81 |
| Unitarians | 81 | 55 |
| Conservative Jews | 79 | 74 |
| Anglicans/Episcopalians | 76 | 63 |
| Buddhists | 74 | 56 |
| Orthodox Christians | 68 | 57 |
| Presbyterians | 64 | 60 |
| Secular | 60 | 55 |
| Mormons | 60 | 54 |
| Methodists | 56 | 53 |
| Lutherans | 53 | 54 |
| TOTAL U.S. | 50 | 48 |
| Catholics | 47 | 49 |
| Muslims | 47 | 41 |
| Baptists | 40 | 36 |
| Unaffiliated religious | 39 | 37 |
| Pentecostals | 33 | 29 |
| Jehovah’s Witnesses | 31 | 35 |
Here are the percentages of people with a post-graduate degree and with family income of at least $100,000 a year:
| %, post-grad degree | %, family income, $100k+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Hindus | 43 | 48 |
| Reform Jews | 55 | 35 |
| Conservative Jews | 43 | 35 |
| Unitarians | 26 | 29 |
| Buddhists | 22 | 26 |
| Anglicans/Episcopalians | 35 | 25 |
| Orthodox Christians | 28 | 18 |
| Presbyterians | 26 | 18 |
| Secular | 23 | 16 |
| Methodists | 20 | 13 |
| TOTAL U.S. | 18 | 11 |
| Mormons | 16 | 10 |
| Catholics | 19 | 10 |
| Muslims | 16 | 10 |
| Lutherans | 16 | 9 |
| Baptists | 11 | 6 |
| Unaffiliated religious | 12 | 6 |
| Pentecostals | 7 | 3 |
| Jehovah’s Witnesses | 9 | 3 |
In every case, the correlation between education and income is extremely strong. As I note in the magazine, the relationship goes both ways: more affluent people tend to produce more educated children, and more educated people tend to earn much more than less educated people. It’s one more reminder that the financial value of education has never been greater.