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: School Enrollment: Preprimary: Female: % Gross data was reported at 68.891 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 70.205 % for 2014. US: School Enrollment: Preprimary: Female: % Gross data is updated yearly, averaging 63.943 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2015, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 70.447 % in 1996 and a record low of 51.131 % in 1981. US: School Enrollment: Preprimary: Female: % Gross 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. Gross enrollment ratio is the ratio of total enrollment, regardless of age, to the population of the age group that officially corresponds to the level of education shown. Preprimary education refers to programs at the initial stage of organized instruction, designed primarily to introduce very young children to a school-type environment and to provide a bridge between home and school.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).

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.

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).

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; ;

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.

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.

The American Community Survey Education Tabulation (ACS-ED) is a custom tabulation of the ACS produced for the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS-ED provides a rich collection of social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics for school systems, school-age children, and the parents of school-age children. In addition to focusing on school-age children, the ACS-ED provides enrollment iterations for children enrolled in public school. The data profiles include percentages (along with associated margins of error) that allow for comparison of school district-level conditions across the U.S. For more information about the NCES ACS-ED collection, visit the NCES Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Demographic/ACS

United States US: School Enrollment: Primary: Male: % Net data was reported at 92.425 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 91.790 % for 2014. United States US: School Enrollment: Primary: Male: % Net data is updated yearly, averaging 93.015 % from Dec 1986 (Median) to 2015, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 98.628 % in 1991 and a record low of 90.756 % in 2004. United States US: School Enrollment: Primary: Male: % Net 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. Net enrollment rate is the ratio of children of official school age who are enrolled in school to the population of the corresponding official school age. Primary education provides children with basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills along with an elementary understanding of such subjects as history, geography, natural science, social science, art, and music.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).

Includes data files and supplemental information. Supplemental information includes a reproducible RMarkdown file, an Excel sheet with metadata, and complete webpage files. Please note that CCD nonfiscal documentation files have been downloaded manually.From the Common Core of Data website:The Common Core of Data (CCD) is the Department of Education's primary database on public elementary and secondary education in the United States. CCD is a comprehensive, annual, national database of all public elementary and secondary schools and school districts.Information on the Common Core of Data (CCD)The primary purpose of the CCD is to provide basic information on public elementary and secondary schools, local education agencies (LEAs), and state education agencies (SEAs) for each state, the District of Columbia, and the outlying territories with a U.S. relationship. CCD is composed of two components: Nonfiscal CCD and Fiscal CCD.

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.

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.

United States US: Government Expenditure on Education: Total: % of Government Expenditure data was reported at 13.452 % in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 13.277 % for 2013. United States US: Government Expenditure on Education: Total: % of Government Expenditure data is updated yearly, averaging 13.277 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2014, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.452 % in 2014 and a record low of 12.933 % in 2011. United States US: Government Expenditure on Education: Total: % of Government Expenditure data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Education Statistics. General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of total general government expenditure on all sectors (including health, education, social services, etc.). It includes expenditure funded by transfers from international sources to government. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.; ; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.; Median;

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.

This covers all downloadable and backing information available at the NCHE data page. This includes PDF forms (profiles) breaking out statistics by state and year up to SY 16- 17, and summaries by state combining SY 19- 20 through 21- 22 (the latter are web page snapshots). The archive also includes a national fiscal summary, and a PDF snapshot of the web page summarizing national statistics. Finally, the archive bundles the HTML of each state s web page (redundant with PDF snapshots), and the script used for downloading the pages and original PDF files in bulk. As data published directly by a US Government department, this is in the public domain. NCHE Website:

This dataset contains data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Academic Library Survey, which was gathered every two years from 1996 - 2014, and annually in IPEDS starting in 2014 (this dataset has continued to only merge data every two years, following the original schedule). This data was merged, transformed, and used for research by Starr Hoffman and Samantha Godbey.This data was merged using R; R scripts for this merge can be made available upon request. Some variables changed names or definitions during this time; a view of these variables over time is provided in the related Figshare Project. Carnegie Classification changed several times during this period; all Carnegie classifications were crosswalked to the 2000 classification version; that information is also provided in the related Figshare Project. This data was used for research published in several articles, conference papers, and posters starting in 2018 (some of this research used an older version of the dataset which was deposited in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's repository).SourcesAll data sources were downloaded from the National Center for Education Statistics website https://nces.ed.gov/. Individual datasets and years accessed are listed below.[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Academic Libraries component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (2020, 2018, 2016, 2014), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) Public Use Data File, Library Statistics Program, (2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996), https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/aca_data.asp[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Institutional Characteristics component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (2020, 2018, 2016, 2014), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fall Enrollment component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (2020, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Human Resources component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (2020, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Employees Assigned by Position component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (2004, 2002), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7[dataset] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fall Staff component, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), (1999, 1997, 1995), https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/login.aspx?gotoReportId=7

The National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimate (EDGE) program develops annually updated point locations (latitude and longitude) for public elementary and secondary schools included in the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). The CCD program annually collects administrative and fiscal data about all public schools, school districts, and state education agencies in the United States. The data are supplied by state education agency officials and include basic directory and contact information for schools and school districts, as well as characteristics about student demographics, number of teachers, school grade span, and various other administrative conditions. CCD school and agency point locations are derived from reported information about the physical location of schools and agency administrative offices. The point locations and administrative attributes in this data layer represent the most current CCD collection. For more information about NCES school point data, see: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/SchoolLocations. For more information about these CCD attributes, as well as additional attributes not included, 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:2022-232021-222020-212019-202018-192017-18All 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. Collections are available for the following years:

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.

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.

This survey collected information on participants in adult and continuing education activities throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Conducted by the Bureau of the Census as part of the CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, May 1969 (ICPSR 7996), the adult education survey collected information on types of courses taken, types of institutions or agencies offering courses, reasons for taking the courses, and the respondent's age, sex, and race. These data are related to additional socioeconomic and demographic information collected at the same time in PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION [UNITED STATES]: DEMOGRAPHICS FOR MAY 1969 AND MAY 1972 (IPCSR 2298).