In 2021, about 37.7 percent of the U.S. population who were aged 25 and above had graduated from college or another higher education institution, a slight decline from 37.9 the previous year. However, this is a significant increase from 1960, when only 7.7 percent of the U.S. population had graduated from college.

Demographics

Educational attainment varies by gender, location, race, and age throughout the United States. Asian-American and Pacific Islanders had the highest level of education, on average, while Massachusetts and the District of Colombia are areas home to the highest rates of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher. However, education levels are correlated with wealth. While public education is free up until the 12th grade, the cost of university is out of reach for many Americans, making social mobility increasingly difficult.

Earnings

White Americans with a professional degree earned the most money on average, compared to other educational levels and races. However, regardless of educational attainment, males typically earned far more on average compared to females. Despite the decreasing wage gap over the years in the country, it remains an issue to this day. Not only is there a large wage gap between males and females, but there is also a large income gap linked to race as well.

In 2021, about 41 percent of the United States population aged 25 to 34 years had attained a bachelor's degree or higher. In comparison, only 33 percent of the U.S. population aged 65 years or older had a bachelor's degree.

In an impressive increase from years past, 39 percent of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2022. This figure is up from 3.8 percent of women in 1940. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 36.2 percent of the U.S. male population having completed four years or more of college in 2022, up from 5.5 percent in 1940.

4- and 2-year colleges

In the United States, college students are able to choose between attending a 2-year postsecondary program and a 4-year postsecondary program. Generally, attending a 2-year program results in an Associate’s Degree, and 4-year programs result in a Bachelor’s Degree.

Many 2-year programs are designed so that attendees can transfer to a college or university offering a 4-year program upon completing their Associate’s. Completion of a 4-year program is the generally accepted standard for entry-level positions when looking for a job.

Earnings after college

Factors such as gender, degree achieved, and the level of postsecondary education can have an impact on employment and earnings later in life. Some Bachelor’s degrees continue to attract more male students than female, particularly in STEM fields, while liberal arts degrees such as education, languages and literatures, and communication tend to see higher female attendance.

All of these factors have an impact on earnings after college, and despite nearly the same rate of attendance within the American population between males and females, men with a Bachelor’s Degree continue to have higher weekly earnings on average than their female counterparts.

This graph shows the average full-time weekly wage for those aged 25 and over, as distinguished by educational attainment level in the United States from 2005 to 2009. In 2009, those with a bachelor's degree or higher earned an average weekly wage of 1,137 U.S. dollars.

In 2023, about 19.3 percent of the population of Ohio aged 25 and over held a Bachelor's degree as their highest level of education. Furthermore, about 31.8 percent of people had a high school degree or equivalency as their highest level of education in that year.

In 2023, workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher in the United States earned an average of 1,609 U.S. dollars per week, the most out of any educational attainment group. In total, full-time wage and salary workers earned 1,170 U.S. dollars per week.

This statistic shows the rate of educational attainment amongst 25 to 34 year olds in the United States each decade from 1940 to 2009. In 1940, 64 percent of 25 to 34 year olds didn't complete high school. In 2009, the share of people who didn't finish high school was down to 12 percent.

This graph shows the educational attainment of the U.S. population from in 2018, according to ethnicity. Around 56.5 percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. have graduated from college or obtained a higher educational degree in 2018.

As of 2022, there were approximately 4.86 million people in the United States who had completed their doctorate degree. Furthermore, there were 74.53 million people in the U.S. whose highest educational attainment was a high school degree.

U.S. citizens with a professional degree had the highest median household income in 2023, at 172,100 U.S. dollars. In comparison, those with less than a 9th grade education made significantly less money, at 35,690 U.S. dollars. Household income The median household income in the United States has fluctuated since 1990, but rose to around 70,000 U.S. dollars in 2021. Maryland had the highest median household income in the United States in 2021. Maryland’s high levels of wealth is due to several reasons, and includes the state's proximity to the nation's capital. Household income and ethnicity The median income of white non-Hispanic households in the United States had been on the rise since 1990, but declining since 2019. While income has also been on the rise, the median income of Hispanic households was much lower than those of white, non-Hispanic private households. However, the median income of Black households is even lower than Hispanic households. Income inequality is a problem without an easy solution in the United States, especially since ethnicity is a contributing factor. Systemic racism contributes to the non-White population suffering from income inequality, which causes the opportunity for growth to stagnate.

In 2023, the mean income of women with a doctorate degree in the United States stood at 139,100 U.S. dollars. For men with the same degree, mean earnings stood at 175,500 U.S. dollars. On average in 2023, American men earned 91,590 U.S. dollars, while American women earned 65,987 U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the vast majority of active duty U.S. Armed Forces personnel did not have a college degree. In that year, there were 822,729 United States Armed Forces personnel who had at least earned a high school diploma but did not have a Bachelor's degree.

In 2023, about 21 percent of the population of Pennsylvania aged 25 and over held a Bachelor's degree as their highest level of education. Furthermore, about 33.1 percent of Pennsylvanians had a high school diploma or equivalency as their highest level of education.

In 2023, about 22.8 percent of the population of Illinois aged 25 and over held a Bachelor's degree. Furthermore, about 25.3 percent of people in the state had a high school diploma (or equivalency) as their highest educational attainment.

In 2023 the mean earnings of Bachelor's degree holders in the United States amounted to 86,970 U.S. dollars. People with higher education degrees tended to earn more than those without. For example, high school graduates, including those with a GED, had mean earnings of 46,720 U.S. dollars.

In 2024, around 6.2 percent of people aged 25 and older who had less than a high school diploma, were unemployed. After relatively high levels of unemployment across all education groups in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment levels have decreased in the subsequent years. The monthly unemployment rate in the U.S. can be accessed here and the unemployment rate for each U.S. state can be accessed here.

In 2023, about four percent of the people with a Bachelor's degree or higher were living below the poverty line in the United States. This is far below the poverty rate of those without a high school diploma, which was 25.1 percent in 2023.

In 2023, about 21.6 percent of the population of Texas aged 25 and over held a Bachelor's degree as their highest level of education. Furthermore, about 24.2percent of Texans had a high school diploma or equivalency as their highest level of education.

As of September 2023, BeReal was the platform in the United States that most attracted social media users with bachelor's degrees and master's degrees. Overall, 38 percent of TikTok users had a high school degree, as did 38 percent of Snapchat users. Image-based Pinterest was the platform most used by respondents with technical and vocational education.

In 2023, about 21.6 percent of the population in Florida aged 25 years and over held a Bachelor's degree. In that same year, about 4.1 percent of Floridians had less than a 9th grade education, and about 26.8 percent were high school graduates.