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.

US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Lower Secondary: Population 25+ Years: Female: % Cumulative data was reported at 95.478 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 95.430 % for 2014. US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Lower Secondary: Population 25+ Years: Female: % Cumulative data is updated yearly, averaging 94.823 % from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2015, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 95.478 % in 2015 and a record low of 93.014 % in 1980. US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Lower Secondary: Population 25+ Years: Female: % Cumulative data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Education Statistics. The percentage of population ages 25 and over that attained or completed lower secondary education.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; ;

Overall educational attainment measures the highest level of education attained by a given individual: for example, an individual counted in the percentage of the measured population with a master’s or professional degree can be assumed to also have a bachelor’s degree and a high school diploma, but they are not counted in the population percentages for those two categories. Overall educational attainment is the broadest education indicator available, providing information about the measured county population as a whole.

Only members of the population aged 25 and older are included in these educational attainment estimates, sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS).

Champaign County has high educational attainment: over 48 percent of the county's population aged 25 or older has a bachelor's degree or graduate or professional degree as their highest level of education. In comparison, the percentage of the population aged 25 or older in the United States and Illinois with a bachelor's degree in 2023 was 21.8% (+/-0.1) and 22.8% (+/-0.2), respectively. The population aged 25 or older in the U.S. and Illinois with a graduate or professional degree in 2022, respectively, was 14.3% (+/-0.1) and 15.5% (+/-0.2).

Educational attainment data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, which are released annually.

As with any datasets that are estimates rather than exact counts, it is important to take into account the margins of error (listed in the column beside each figure) when drawing conclusions from the data.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of providing the standard 1-year data products, the Census Bureau released experimental estimates from the 1-year data in 2020. This includes a limited number of data tables for the nation, states, and the District of Columbia. The Census Bureau states that the 2020 ACS 1-year experimental tables use an experimental estimation methodology and should not be compared with other ACS data. For these reasons, and because data is not available for Champaign County, no data for 2020 is included in this Indicator.

For interested data users, the 2020 ACS 1-Year Experimental data release includes a dataset on Educational Attainment for the Population 25 Years and Over.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (16 October 2024).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (29 September 2023).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (6 October 2022).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (4 June 2021).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (4 June 2021).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (13 September 2018).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (13 September 2018). U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (19 September 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2009 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2008 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2006 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2005 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1501; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).

US: Government Expenditure per Student: Tertiary: % of GDP per Capita data was reported at 22.025 % in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 21.162 % for 2013. US: Government Expenditure per Student: Tertiary: % of GDP per Capita data is updated yearly, averaging 21.162 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2014, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22.025 % in 2014 and a record low of 20.079 % in 2011. US: Government Expenditure per Student: Tertiary: % of GDP per Capita data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Education Statistics. Government expenditure per student is the average general government expenditure (current, capital, and transfers) per student in the given level of education, expressed as a percentage of GDP per capita.; ; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.; Median;

About the Digest of Education StatisticsThe 2022 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 58th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977–78, 1983–84, and 1985–86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To qualify for inclusion in the Digest, material must be nationwide in scope and of current interest and value. The publication contains information on a variety of subjects in the field of education statistics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to data on educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons. Supplemental information on population trends, attitudes on education, education characteristics of the labor force, government finances, and economic trends provides background for evaluating education data. The Digest contains important information on federal education funding, though more detailed information on federal activities is available from federal education program offices.The Digest contains tables organized into seven chapters: All Levels of Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, Postsecondary Education, Federal Funds for Education and Related Activities, Outcomes of Education, International Comparisons of Education, and Libraries and Use of Technology. Each chapter is divided into a number of topical subsections.About this DatasetThis dataset represents the tables from the Most Current Digest Tables page: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/current_tables.asp, as downloaded 2025-07-13.The folder system has three levels. Level 1 is the chapters of the data digest. Level 2 is the subsections of the chapters. Level 3 is a folder each for each table. Each table folder contains an excel file for the table.The top level folder contains a catalog csv with a cross walk between the folder name and the original table titles.There is also a folder for Machine Readable tables downloaded from this page in the top level folder: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/mrt_tables.asp.

This Public Schools feature dataset is composed of all Public elementary and secondary education facilities in the United States as defined by the Common Core of Data (CCD, https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ ), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, https://nces.ed.gov ), US Department of Education for the 2017-2018 school year. This includes all Kindergarten through 12th grade schools as tracked by the Common Core of Data. Included in this dataset are military schools in US territories and referenced in the city field with an APO or FPO address. DOD schools represented in the NCES data that are outside of the United States or US territories have been omitted. This feature class contains all MEDS/MEDS+ as approved by NGA. Complete field and attribute information is available in the ”Entities and Attributes” metadata section. Geographical coverage is depicted in the thumbnail above and detailed in the Place Keyword section of the metadata. This release includes the addition of 3065 new records, modifications to the spatial location and/or attribution of 99,287 records, and removal of 2996 records not present in the NCES CCD data.

As of 2024, 98 percent of internet users in the United States were collage graduates or had some college degree. On the contrary, 93 percent of them had a high school or less education.

United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Primary: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data was reported at 98.774 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 98.793 % for 2014. United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Primary: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data is updated yearly, averaging 98.677 % from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2015, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 98.867 % in 2013 and a record low of 94.500 % in 1970. United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Completed Primary: 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 USA – Table US.World Bank: Education Statistics. The percentage of population ages 25 and over that attained or completed primary education.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; ;

This Private Schools feature dataset is composed of private elementary and secondary education facilities in the United States as defined by the Private School Survey (PSS, https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, https://nces.ed.gov), US Department of Education for the 2017-2018 school year. This includes all prekindergarten through 12th grade schools as tracked by the PSS. This feature class contains all MEDS/MEDS+ as approved by NGA. Complete field and attribute information is available in the ”Entities and Attributes” metadata section. Geographical coverage is depicted in the thumbnail above and detailed in the Place Keyword section of the metadata. This release includes the addition of 2675 new records, modifications to the spatial location and/or attribution of 19836 records, the removal of 254 records no longer applicable. Additionally, 10,870 records were removed that previously had a STATUS value of 2 (Unknown; not represented in the most recent PSS data) and duplicate records identified by ORNL.

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.

The National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) is administered by the Division of Adult Education and Literacy in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Aggregated data, data from individual US states and territories, and narrative reports, all covering program years 2000-2022, were downloaded from https://nrs.ed.gov/ between 2025-02-06 and 2025-02-09. Aggregated reports were uploaded to Data Lumos as both regular files and a zipped folder; state data tables were only uploaded as a zipped folder, due to the high number of individual files. Total, there are 11,206 files and 628 folders in the entire dataset, due to the way it was structured on the original website.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Unit Characteristics: Percent Black or African American by Highest Education: Less Than College Graduate: Total (CXU980270LB1402M) from 2012 to 2023 about no college, consumer unit, secondary schooling, secondary, African-American, education, percent, and USA.

This data collection contains information from the first wave of High School and Beyond (HSB), a longitudinal study of American youth conducted by the National Opinion Research Center on behalf of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Data were collected from 58,270 high school students (28,240 seniors and 30,030 sophomores) and 1,015 secondary schools in the spring of 1980. Many items overlap with the NCES's NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE CLASS OF 1972 (ICPSR 8085). The HSB study's data are contained in eight files. Part 1 (School Data) contains data from questionnaires completed by high school principals about various school attributes and programs. Part 2 (Student Data) contains data from surveys administered to students. Included are questionnaire responses on family and religious background, perceptions of self and others, personal values, extracurricular activities, type of high school program, and educational expectations and aspirations. Also supplied are scores on a battery of cognitive tests including vocabulary, reading, mathematics, science, writing, civics, spatial orientation, and visualization. To gather the data in Part 3 (Parent Data), a subsample of the seniors and sophomores surveyed in HSB was drawn, and questionnaires were administered to one parent of each of 3,367 sophomores and of 3,197 seniors. The questionnaires contain a number of items in common with the student questionnaires, and there are a number of items in common between the parent-of-sophomore and the parent-of-senior questionnaires. This is a revised file from the one originally released in Autumn 1981, and it includes 22 new analytically constructed variables imputed by NCES from the original survey data gathered from parents. The new data are concerned primarily with the areas of family income, liabilities, and assets. Other data in the file concentrate on financing of post-secondary education, including numerous parent opinions and projections concerning the educational future of the student, anticipated financial aid, student's plans after high school, expected ages for student's marriage and childbearing, estimated costs of post-secondary education, and government financial aid policies. Also supplied are data on family size, value of property and other assets, home financing, family income and debts, and the age, sex, marital, and employment status of parents, plus current income and expenses for the student. Part 4 (Language Data) provides information on each student who reported some non-English language experience, with data on past and current exposure to and use of languages. In Parts 5-6, there are responses from 14,103 teachers about 18,291 senior and sophomore students from 616 schools. Students were evaluated by an average of four different teachers who had the opportunity to express knowledge or opinions of HSB students whom they had taught during the 1979-1980 school year. Part 5 (Teacher Comment Data: Seniors) contains 67,053 records, and Part 6 (Teacher Comment Data: Sophomores) contains 76,560 records. Questions were asked regarding the teacher's opinions of their student's likelihood of attending college, popularity, and physical or emotional handicaps affecting school work. The sophomore file also contains questions on teacher characteristics, e.g., sex, ethnic origin, subjects taught, and time devoted to maintaining order. The data in Part 7 (Twins and Siblings Data) are from students in the HSB sample identified as twins, triplets, or other siblings. Of the 1,348 families included, 524 had twins or triplets only, 810 contained non-twin siblings only, and the remaining 14 contained both types of siblings. Finally, Part 8 (Friends Data) contained the first-, second-, and third-choice friends listed by each of the students in Part 2, along with identifying information allowing links between friendship pairs.

National Center for Education Statistics. Public Elementary/Secondary School Summary (CCD): School Count - Regular Schools, 2012. Data-Planet™ Statistical Datasets by Conquest Systems, Inc. Dataset-ID: 017-002-002 Dataset: A public elementary/secondary school providing instruction and education services that does not focus primarily on special education, vocational/technical education, or alternative education, or on any of the particular themes associated with magnet/special program emphasis schools. Data are from the Common Core of Data (CCD), a program of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics that annually collects fiscal and non-fiscal data about all public schools, public school districts and state education agencies in the United States. The data are supplied by state education agency officials. http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ccddata.asp Category: Education Subject: Secondary Schools, Junior High Schools, High Schools, Public Schools, Elementary Schools Source: National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity in the United States for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the US and other nations. NCES is located within the US Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. The NCES fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of US education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally. The NCES is one of four centers (along with the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, and the National Center for Special Education Research) charged with carrying out the work of the Institute of Education Sciences. http://nces.ed.gov/National Center for Education Statistics. Public Elementary/Secondary School Summary (CCD): School Count - Charter School, 2012. Data-Planet™ Statistical Datasets by Conquest Systems, Inc. Dataset-ID: 017-002-020 Dataset: A school providing free public elementary and/or secondary education to eligible students under a specific charter granted by the state legislature or other appropriate authority, and designated by such authority to be a charter school. Data are from the Common Core of Data (CCD), a program of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics that annually collects fiscal and non-fiscal data about all public schools, public school districts and state education agencies in the United States. The data are supplied by state education agency officials. http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ccddata.asp Category: Education Subject: Secondary Schools, Junior High Schools, High Schools, Elementary Schools, School Choice, Charter Schools Source: National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity in the United States for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the US and other nations. NCES is located within the US Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. The NCES fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of US education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally. The NCES is one of four centers (along with the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, and the National Center for Special Education Research) charged with carrying out the work of the Institute of Education Sciences. http://nces.ed.gov/

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.

Graph and download economic data for Civilian Labor Force: College Graduates: Advanced Degree: Master's Degree and Higher, 16 to 17 years (CGADL1617) from May 2015 to Jul 2025 about 16 to 17 years, master's degree, tertiary schooling, civilian, education, labor force, labor, household survey, and USA.

Dataset describing students to teacher ratios at states and counties US nation wide.

United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Master's or Equivalent: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data was reported at 11.995 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 11.765 % for 2014. United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Master's or Equivalent: Population 25+ Years: Total: % Cumulative data is updated yearly, averaging 11.765 % from Dec 2013 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.995 % in 2015 and a record low of 11.566 % in 2013. United States US: Educational Attainment: At Least Master'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 USA – Table US.World Bank: Education Statistics. The percentage of population ages 25 and over that attained or completed Master's or equivalent.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; ;

The National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimate (EDGE) program develops annually updated school district boundary composite files that include public elementary, secondary, and unified school district boundaries clipped to the U.S. shoreline. School districts are special-purpose governments and administrative units designed by state and local officials to provide public education for local residents. District boundaries are collected for NCES by the U.S. Census Bureau to develop demographic estimates and to support educational research and program administration. The NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) program is an annual collection of basic administrative characteristics for all public schools, school districts, and state education agencies in the United States. These characteristics are reported by state education officials and include directory information, number of students, number of teachers, grade span, and other conditions. The administrative attributes in this layer were developed from the most current CCD collection available. For more information about NCES school district boundaries, see: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/DistrictBoundaries. For more information about CCD school district attributes, see: https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/files.asp.Notes:-1 or MIndicates that the data are missing.-2 or NIndicates that the data are not applicable.-9Indicates that the data do not meet NCES data quality standards.Collections are available for the following years:2021-222020-212019-202018-192017-18All information contained in this file is in the public domain. Data users are advised to review NCES program documentation and feature class metadata to understand the limitations and appropriate use of these data.

The Colleges and Universities feature class/shapefile is composed of all Post Secondary Education facilities as defined by the Integrated Post Secondary Education System (IPEDS, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, https://nces.ed.gov/), US Department of Education for the 2018-2019 school year. Included are Doctoral/Research Universities, Masters Colleges and Universities, Baccalaureate Colleges, Associates Colleges, Theological seminaries, Medical Schools and other health care professions, Schools of engineering and technology, business and management, art, music, design, Law schools, Teachers colleges, Tribal colleges, and other specialized institutions. Overall, this data layer covers all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and other assorted U.S. territories. This feature class contains all MEDS/MEDS+ as approved by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Homeland Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) Team. Complete field and attribute information is available in the ”Entities and Attributes” metadata section. Geographical coverage is depicted in the thumbnail above and detailed in the "Place Keyword" section of the metadata. This feature class does not have a relationship class but is related to Supplemental Colleges. Colleges and Universities that are not included in the NCES IPEDS data are added to the Supplemental Colleges feature class when found. This release includes the addition of 175 new records, the removal of 468 no longer reported by NCES, and modifications to the spatial location and/or attribution of 6682 records.