The concepts and methods of human ecology are applied to the geographic distribution of members of the American Educational Research Association. State characteristics are measured by five factors: (1) large-scale agriculture; (2) population size; (3) affluence-urbanization; (4) white predominance; (5) emphasis on specialized agriculture. City characteristics are based on population, affluence, residential mobility, white predominance, and emphasis on higher education. Population size is the strongest correlate of the absolute number of educational researchers in the various states. When number of researchers relative to population is considered, educational researchers are concentrated in affluent, urban states. In the city data, the tendency is for educational researchers to be concentrated in university towns. This pattern of results supports the convergent and discriminant validity of the ecological approach in that it resembles the pattern found for psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers more than the pattern for veterinarians. (Author/MH)