College degrees still pay off in Austin

While polling shows fewer and fewer Americans believe college is very important, income data shows a degree makes a big difference in the Austin metro.

Why it matters: College may not live up to the American Dream that it promised in the past, but in terms of lifetime earnings, a college degree is still important, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

The big picture: There are plenty of reasons for the decline in perceived value among Americans.

• School is expensive, student loan debt is often onerous and job security for those with degrees has diminished — even more so with the advent of AI. Plus, new graduates are seeing higher unemployment rates.
• There's also growing interest and appeal for young adults in the skilled trades — becoming plumbers, electricians, etc. — especially as AI appears to threaten white collar work.

Zoom in: The widest education income gap in Texas is here in Austin, where residents with a bachelor's degree ($80,800) earn about $38,500 more than those with only a high school diploma ($42,200).

• Those with advanced degrees in Austin make nearly three times ($94,700) that of those without any degree ($31,800).
• At the other end of the spectrum, Eagle Pass shows the smallest gap — just $5,411, indicating far less of a wage return for earning a college degree there.

Between the lines: There's been loud criticism, particularly from conservatives, over the political leanings of universities, criticized as "elitist" "woke" "leftist," etc.

• Yet both Democrats and Republicans express far less support for higher education than they did more than a decade ago.

The bottom line: "It feels bad right now to be a recent college graduate, but it doesn't necessarily feel better to be someone with a high-school diploma who's just going onto the labor market either," says Chris Martin, lead researcher on jobs site Glassdoor's economic research team.

• "While there may be declines in the returns to a college education, you're still better off."