Residents with advanced degrees: 13.6% of population
Residents with some college education: 59.1%
Virginia's giant roster of academic institutions graduate more than 500,000 students each year, according to Rob McClintock, the director of research at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
The "constant pipeline" of graduates, as McClintock describes it, feed into some pretty huge companies that call Virginia home, including financial services company Capital One Financial and aerospace, defense, communications and electronics giant General Dynamics. In their wake, hundreds of smaller subcontractors and services providers have sprung up.
Virginia also benefits from its proximity to Washington -- federal contracting is a major local industry, filled with small businesses.
McClintock credits the state's academic institutions with providing the backbone for its business ecosystem. "It is clear that an educated workforce is really fundamental to business, and that is why it is so important to economic development," he says.
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