Albuquerque is comparable to peer cities in adult educational achievement, and has a high percent of advanced degrees. Albuquerque continues to improve in circulation of library materials, but lags behind other peer cities.

INDICATORS

• 1.1 Adult Educational Achievement Rates
• 1.2 Library Circulation and Visitation Rates

  LOCAL TREND:

Local trends for adult educational achievement were stable, with at least 86% of adults over 25 years of age obtaining at least a high school equivalency degree; this trend has remained stable since 2002. Albuquerque's rate of library materials circulation has increased significantly over the past five years, with one million more pieces checked out in FY/07 than in FY/03. Per capita visits to the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County library have also increased over the same time period.

  NATIONAL/REGIONAL COMPARISON:

Albuquerque compared favorably with similarly sized communities in the Southwest for adult educational achievement for 2007, the most recent data available. Albuquerque was above average in terms of residents with at least a high school education, and is second highest for those with advanced degrees among peer cities. Compared to benchmark communities in the Southwest, Albuquerque is about average for per capita library circulation, but lags slightly behind in library visits per capita.

  CITIZEN PERCEPTION:

In 2007, Albuquerque citizens rated this Desired Community Condition as being very important, placing it in the top 20 among all conditions. This held true regardless of demographics, although the greater the citizens' own education achievement, the higher they ranked literacy in importance.  Citizens reported that progress lags well behind importance.

Opportunity to Continue to Improve	LOCAL TREND IS:	Positive
	ALBUQUERQUE, COMPARED TO OTHERS, IS:	Mixed
	CITIZEN PERCEPTION COMPARED TO DATA:	Matches

NOTE: For help in understanding this page, see Creating a Community Report Card.