The first step in eliminating education deserts is finding them. Existing research into education deserts is so limited that there isn’t a broadly accepted definition of what constitutes one. So The Chronicle ran its own analysis. We started by identifying almost 1,500 two- and four-year public colleges. (For our analysis, we excluded institutions with an acceptance rate lower than 30 percent: These colleges wouldn’t be considered viable options by many local students.)

Like the authors of several recent studies, we then defined the areas each college serves. To do so, we calculated driving distance: If students who live or work off campus could drive to it within 60 minutes, we considered them in range.

We then looked to census block groups, geographical units for which the U.S. Census publishes useful demographic data. Block groups beyond any college’s driving radius were considered education deserts.

So how many adult Americans live in education deserts? The Chronicle’s analysis found that 11.2-million adults, or 3.5 percent of the adult population, live more than a 60-minute drive from a public college.

Areas of the country that qualify as education deserts under our definition are largely rural and predominantly in the West. Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana, in that order, have the greatest percentage of adults living more than 60 minutes from a college.

Let’s take a closer look at Montana. Although the state has a host of public four-year and community colleges serving most of its major cities and towns, the distances between population centers in Big Sky Country leaves one in three Montanans more than a 60-minute drive from a college.

Nationally, what do we know about the people who live in these deserts? Over three-fourths of them are white. That’s a disproportionate amount: White Americans constituted only 62 percent of the population in 2016.

The forced migration of Native Americans has left many of them clustered in areas that are far from population centers — and from higher education.

Our analysis showed that 29.5 percent of all Native Americans live more than 60 minutes’ drive from a college. Compared with white Americans, Native American adults are more than five times more likely to live in an education desert. Native Americans face plenty of challenges to higher education; simply getting to a campus could be a major impediment for many.

Especially since the Great Recession, Americans living in rural areas have been left behind in income, assets, and health. They’re also more likely to live in an education desert. Whether it’s correlation or causation, a college education is linked to higher earnings, better employment rates, and overall well-being.

The median household earning for those living in education deserts is $47,368. In nondesert areas, that value increases to $53,844.

Living in an education desert also means you’re slightly more likely to live in poverty. In areas 60 minutes or more from a college, 12.8 percent of adults live below the poverty line. Live within 60 minutes of a college, and that proportion drops to 11.4 percent.