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.

The National Survey of College Graduates is a repeated cross-sectional biennial survey that provides data on the nation's college graduates, with a focus on those in the science and engineering workforce. This survey is a unique source for examining the relationship of degree field and occupation in addition to other characteristics of college-educated individuals, including work activities, salary, and demographic information. This dataset includes National Survey of College Graduates assets for 2021.

In 2022, 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.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Doctoral Degree, 25 years and over, Women (CGDD25OW) from Jan 2000 to May 2025 about doctoral degree, females, 25 years +, tertiary schooling, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.

In the academic year of 2020/21, about 860,760 male and 1.2 million female students earned a Bachelor's degree in the United States. By the academic year of 2031/32, the number of male Bachelor's degree recipients is expected to reach 975,020.

Bachelor’s degrees in the United States

American students typically earn a Bachelor’s degree for an undergraduate course of study and it is normally completed in four years. Depending on the major, students receive a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or another type of certificate.

In 2021, about 1.17 million white students earned a Bachelor's degree, followed by 324,848 Hispanic students.

Bachelor's degrees and earnings

When looking at the mean income of Bachelor’s degree holders in 2021, there are marked differences between the female and male Bachelor’s degree holders. Men with a Bachelor’s degree earned about 107,315 U.S. dollars per year, compared to women, who earned 77,099 U.S. dollars per year. In addition, salaries tended to increase the more educated a person was.

College Completion Dataset

Graduation Rates, Race, Efficiency Measures and More

By Jonathan Ortiz [source]

About this dataset

This College Completion dataset provides an invaluable insight into the success and progress of college students in the United States. It contains graduation rates, race and other data to offer a comprehensive view of college completion in America. The data is sourced from two primary sources – the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)’ Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS) and Voluntary System of Accountability’s Student Success and Progress rate.

At four-year institutions, the graduation figures come from IPEDS for first-time, full-time degree seeking students at the undergraduate level, who entered college six years earlier at four-year institutions or three years earlier at two-year institutions. Furthermore, colleges report how many students completed their program within 100 percent and 150 percent of normal time which corresponds with graduation within four years or six year respectively. Students reported as being of two or more races are included in totals but not shown separately

When analyzing race and ethnicity data NCES have classified student demographics since 2009 into seven categories; White non-Hispanic; Black non Hispanic; American Indian/ Alaskan native ; Asian/ Pacific Islander ; Unknown race or ethnicity ; Non resident with two new categorize Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander combined with Asian plus students belonging to several races. Also worth noting is that different classifications for graduate data stemming from 2008 could be due to variations in time frame examined & groupings used by particular colleges – those who can’t be identified from National Student Clearinghouse records won’t be subjected to penalty by these locations .

When it comes down to efficiency measures parameters like “Awards per 100 Full Time Undergraduate Students which includes all undergraduate completions reported by a particular institution including associate degrees & certificates less than 4 year programme will assist us here while we also take into consideration measures like expenditure categories , Pell grant percentage , endowment values , average student aid amounts & full time faculty members contributing outstandingly towards instructional research / public service initiatives .

When trying to quantify outcomes back up Median Estimated SAT score metric helps us when it is derived either on 25th percentile basis / 75th percentile basis with all these factors further qualified by identifying required criteria meeting 90% threshold when incoming students are considered for relevance . Last but not least , Average Student Aid equalizes amount granted by institution dividing same over total sum received against what was allotted that particular year .

All this analysis gives an opportunity get a holistic overview about performance , potential deficits &

More Datasets

For more datasets, click here.

Featured Notebooks

• 🚨 Your notebook can be here! 🚨!

How to use the dataset

This dataset contains data on student success, graduation rates, race and gender demographics, an efficiency measure to compare colleges across states and more. It is a great source of information to help you better understand college completion and student success in the United States.

In this guide we’ll explain how to use the data so that you can find out the best colleges for students with certain characteristics or focus on your target completion rate. We’ll also provide some useful tips for getting the most out of this dataset when seeking guidance on which institutions offer the highest graduation rates or have a good reputation for success in terms of completing programs within normal timeframes.

Before getting into specifics about interpreting this dataset, it is important that you understand that each row represents information about a particular institution – such as its state affiliation, level (two-year vs four-year), control (public vs private), name and website. Each column contains various demographic information such as rate of awarding degrees compared to other institutions in its sector; race/ethnicity Makeup; full-time faculty percentage; median SAT score among first-time students; awards/grants comparison versus national average/state average - all applicable depending on institution location — and more!

When using this dataset, our suggestion is that you begin by forming a hypothesis or research question concerning student completion at a given school based upon observable characteristics like financ...

In 2021, the District of Columbia had the most highly educated population in the United States, with 61.4 percent of residents over the age of 25 having a Bachelor's degree or higher. Massachusetts followed closely behind, with 45.2 percent of residents having completed a Bachelor's degree or higher. For the United States as a whole, this figure stood at 33.7 percent of the population.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Bachelor's Degree, 25 to 64 years, Men (CGBD2564M) from Jan 2000 to May 2025 about 25 to 64 years, males, tertiary schooling, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.

This table contains data on the percent of population age 25 and up with a four-year college degree or higher for California, its regions, counties, county subdivisions, cities, towns, and census tracts. Greater educational attainment has been associated with health-promoting behaviors including consumption of fruits and vegetables and other aspects of healthy eating, engaging in regular physical activity, and refraining from excessive consumption of alcohol and from smoking. Completion of formal education (e.g., high school) is a key pathway to employment and access to healthier and higher paying jobs that can provide food, housing, transportation, health insurance, and other basic necessities for a healthy life. Education is linked with social and psychological factors, including sense of control, social standing and social support. These factors can improve health through reducing stress, influencing health-related behaviors and providing practical and emotional support. More information on the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the Data and Resources section. The educational attainment table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project (HCI) of the Office of Health Equity. The goal of HCI is to enhance public health by providing data, a standardized set of statistical measures, and tools that a broad array of sectors can use for planning healthy communities and evaluating the impact of plans, projects, policy, and environmental changes on community health. The creation of healthy social, economic, and physical environments that promote healthy behaviors and healthy outcomes requires coordination and collaboration across multiple sectors, including transportation, housing, education, agriculture and others. Statistical metrics, or indicators, are needed to help local, regional, and state public health and partner agencies assess community environments and plan for healthy communities that optimize public health. More information on HCI can be found here: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OHE/CDPH%20Document%20Library/Accessible%202%20CDPH_Healthy_Community_Indicators1pager5-16-12.pdf

The format of the educational attainment table is based on the standardized data format for all HCI indicators. As a result, this data table contains certain variables used in the HCI project (e.g., indicator ID, and indicator definition). Some of these variables may contain the same value for all observations.

In the academic year of 2021/22, almost 2.02 million students were awarded a Bachelor's degree in the United States. This figure is expected to increase to the academic year of 2031/32, when about 2.46 million students are forecasted to be awarded a Bachelor's degree.

This statistic shows the top metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of college graduates in the United States in 2019. In 2019, Boulder in Colorado was ranked first with 64.8 percent of its population having a Bachelor's degree or higher.

In 2022, 39 percent of surveyed adults in the United States said that it was more important for people today to have a two-year or a four-year college degree in order to have a successful career, compared to 20 years ago, while 35 percent said that it was equally important and 26 percent said it was less important.

In 2021, there were a total of 391,375 Bachelor's degrees earned in business studies across the United States, making it the most common field of study. In that same year, a further 126,944 Bachelor's degrees were earned in the field of psychology.

Venezuela VE: Educational Attainment: At Least Bachelor's or Equivalent: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data was reported at 21.545 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 18.506 % for 2011. Venezuela VE: Educational Attainment: At Least Bachelor's or Equivalent: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data is updated yearly, averaging 20.025 % from Dec 2011 (Median) to 2015, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 21.545 % in 2015 and a record low of 18.506 % in 2011. Venezuela VE: Educational Attainment: At Least Bachelor's or Equivalent: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Venezuela – Table VE.World Bank.WDI: Education Statistics. The percentage of population ages 25 and over that attained or completed Bachelor's or equivalent.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; ;

In 2022, Canada had the highest share of adults with a university degree, at over 60 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 64. India had the smallest share of people with a university degree, at 13 percent of the adult population. University around the world Deciding which university to attend can be a difficult decision for some and in today’s world, people are not left wanting for choice. There are thousands of universities around the world, with the highest number found in India and Indonesia. When picking which school to attend, some look to university rankings, where Harvard University in the United States consistently comes in on top. Moving on up One of the major perks of attending university is that it enables people to move up in the world. Getting a good education is generally seen as a giant step along the path to success and opens up doors for future employment. Future earnings potential can be determined by which university one attends, whether by the prestige of the university or the connections that have been made there. For instance, graduates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business can expect to earn around 250,000 U.S. dollars annually.

In June 2024, about **** percent of recent college graduates were underemployed in the United States. This indicated no change from the previous month.The Federal Reserve Bank of New York defines underemployment as "working in a job that typically does not require a bachelor’s degree". Recent college graduates are those aged 22 to 27 with a bachelor's degree or higher

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Master's Degree, 20 to 24 years (CGMD2024) from Jan 2000 to May 2025 about master's degree, 20 to 24 years, tertiary schooling, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate: College Graduates: Advanced Degree: Master's Degree and Higher, 25 years and over, Men (CGAD25OM) from Dec 2014 to May 2025 about master's degree, males, 25 years +, tertiary schooling, education, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA.

In 2024, a record high of around ***** million students graduated from undergraduate programs at public colleges and universities in China. That number was more than double as high as the number of degrees earned at all levels of higher education in the United States. The vast number of graduates from Chinese universities originates from the increasing enrollment in colleges and universities across the country. Of the ***** million Chinese graduates of 2023, around **** million earned a bachelor's degree, whereas **** million earned a more practically oriented short-cycle degree. On a graduate and postgraduate level, around *** million master's and doctor's degree students graduated from public colleges and universities in China in 2023. What are the popular majors? In recent years, the most favored majors among Chinese bachelor students were *********************************************, while short-cycle degree students chose majors such as *****************************************************************. Meanwhile, ****************************************************************************************************** were among the least desirable subjects. However, even the popular, highly competitive fields of study do not always guarantee quick and successful employment after graduation. What are the labor market prospects for graduates? The graduate employment rate within half a year after graduation has been generally stable in China over the past seven years, exceeding ** percent on average. Those that struggle to find a job are usually graduates from less technical, quantitative majors who often lack both practical “hard skills” and “soft skills” such as communication, critical thinking, and managerial abilities. ********************************************** top employment rates as well as secure higher-starting salaries. The average monthly salary of a university graduate in China has increased by around ** percent in the last ten years. However, high rent and costs of living in cities like Beijing or Shanghai often force young graduates to return to their hometowns or to seek employment in the second and third tier cities.

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