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.

United States per capita personal income by county (2021) vs. level of education.

Data source for United States per capita personal income by county: https://www.bea.gov/data/income-saving/personal-income-county-metro-and-other-areas

Data source for education level: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/county-level-data-sets-download-data/

bea.gov is the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

usda.gov is the U.S. Department of Agriculture

They are the most recent data available at the moment. Per capita personal income by county data was released in November 2022. Next release should be in Q4 2023.

I cleaned both tables and I merged them with BigQuery

You can find the data viz here: https://public.tableau.com/views/PerCapitaPersonalIncomebyCountyintheUnitedStates2021/Map?:language=en-US&publish=yes&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link

*Note: BEA state per capita personal income statistics are calculated by dividing population into personal income. Check their methodology here https://www.bea.gov/note-capita-personal-income-and-population

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Self-Employment Income by Education: Bachelor's Degree (CXUSFEMPINCLB1308M) from 1996 to 2012 about self-employed, tertiary schooling, tax, education, income, and USA.

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.

Income categorized by education level from 2011 to 2017. Data from ACS.

Quality of Life Indicators: Average and median income by education level. Annual. National.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Wages and Salaries by Highest Education: Less Than College Graduate: Associate's Degree (CXU900000LB1406M) from 2012 to 2023 about no college, associate degree, salaries, tax, education, wages, income, and USA.

US State Education Analysis for Tech Product Launch

About This Dataset

This comprehensive dataset provides detailed educational attainment and demographic analysis across all 50 US states from 2021-2023, specifically designed for tech companies planning strategic market entry and product launch decisions.

Dataset Overview

• 150 rows of data (50 states × 3 years)
• 17 columns of educational, demographic, and economic indicators
• Complete coverage of all US states from 2021-2023
• Ready-to-analyze format with calculated percentages and rankings

Key Features

🎯 Strategic Market Intelligence

• Educational attainment levels by degree type (Bachelor's, Master's, Professional, Doctoral)
• Calculated education scores and state rankings for quick market prioritization
• Median household income data for purchasing power assessment

📊 Comprehensive Demographics

• Population data for adults 25+ (primary tech consumer demographic)
• Household count data for market sizing
• College graduate percentages for targeted marketing

🔢 Advanced Analytics Ready

• Pre-calculated composite education scores
• State rankings based on education levels
• Percentage breakdowns for immediate insights

Column Definitions

Use Cases

🚀 Tech Product Launches

• Identify states with highest concentrations of educated early adopters
• Prioritize markets based on education levels and income
• Size potential customer segments by state

📈 Market Research & Analysis

• Compare educational demographics across regions
• Analyze trends in educational attainment over time
• Correlate education levels with income potential

🎯 Customer Segmentation

• Target high-value customer segments (graduate degree holders)
• Develop region-specific marketing strategies
• Plan B2B tech sales territories

📊 Business Intelligence

• Regional expansion planning
• Competitive market analysis
• Investment and resource allocation decisions

Data Quality & Sources

• Primary Sources: US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS), Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Data Validation: Cross-referenced against multiple official sources
• Calculation Methodology: All percentages and scores calculated using consistent formulas
• Update Frequency: Annual updates as new official data becomes available

Sample Insights

The dataset reveals that Massachusetts consistently ranks #1 in education metrics with: - 47.78% college graduation rate (2023) - 22.42% graduate degree holders - $99,858 median household income - Education score of 28.76

Perfect for identifying premium tech markets and highly-educated consumer bases for sophisticated technology products.

This dataset is ideal for data scientists, market researchers, business analysts, and tech companies looking to make data-driven decisions about market entry, customer targeting, and regional strategy.

Employment income (in 2019 and 2020) by major field of study and highest certificate, diploma or degree, for cities. Includes five-year age groups, for the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP).

Employment income (in 2019 and 2020) by highest certificate, diploma or degree, for census divisions and municipalities.

Description:

This dataset combines data from three sources to provide a comprehensive overview of county-level socioeconomic indicators, educational attainment, and voting outcomes in the United States. The dataset includes variables such as unemployment rates, median household income, urban influence codes, education levels, and voting percentages for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. By integrating this data, the dataset enables analysis of how factors like income, education, and unemployment correlate with political preferences, offering insights into regional voting behaviors across the country.

References:

The following reference datasets were used to construct this dataset.

[1] Harvard Dataverse, Voting Data Set by County. Available: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi: 10.7910/DVN/VOQCHQ

[2] USDA Economic Research Service, Educational Attainment and Un- employment Data. Available: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ county-level-data-sets/county-level-data-sets-download-data/

This data collection contains information gathered in the Survey of Income and Education (SIE) conducted in April-July 1976 by the Census Bureau for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Although national estimates of the number of children in poverty were available each year from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), those estimates were not statistically reliable on a state-by-state basis. In enacting the Educational Amendments of 1974, Congress mandated that HEW conduct a survey to obtain reliable state-by-state data on the numbers of school-age children in local areas with family incomes below the federal poverty level. This was the statistic that determined the amount of grant a local educational agency was entitled to under Title 1, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. (Such funds were distributed by HEW's Office of Education.) The SIE was the survey created to fulfill that mandate. Its questions include those used in the Current Population Survey regarding current employment, past work experience, and income. Additional questions covering school enrollment, disability, health insurance, bilingualism, food stamp recipiency, assets, and housing costs enabled the study of the poverty concept and of program effectiveness in reaching target groups. Basic household information also was recorded, including tenure of unit (a determination of whether the occupants of the living quarters owned, rented, or occupied the unit without rent), type of unit, household language, and for each member of the household: age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital history, and education.

The age groups available in the dataset are: 15+, 25+, 25-34, 25-54 and 25-64.

Type of work includes full-time and part-time.

The educational levels include: 0-8 yrs., some high school, high school graduate, some post-secondary, post-secondary certificate diploma and university degree.

Wages include average weekly wage rate.

The immigration statuses include: total landed immigrants (very recent immigrants, recent immigrants, established immigrants), non-landed immigrants and born in Canada.

Distribution of earners by highest certificate, diploma or degree and earnings/employment income. For the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP).

If this data set benefit your work, don't hesitate to upvote 😀

This data is gathered from United Nations databases, the following links below is been used.

https://rankedex.com/society-rankings/education-index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/WESP2022_ANNEX.pdf

This data can be used to measure the influence of education or income or both on any variable or vector, for example, ANOVA models.

The Income classification is for year 2021 and the education index is for 2019 to 2023.

The education index (EI) is one of the parameters that is used to calculate the Human Development Index (HDI). It is calculated by this formula: Education Index = (MYS Index + EYS Index) / 2 where MYS is Mean Years of Schooling and EYS is Expected Years of Schooling.

In this data it is assumed that : 1-Countries EI below 0.4 have Very Low Educated population 2-Countries EI between 0.4 and 0.6 have Low to Moderate Educated population 3-Countries EI between 0.6 and 0.8 have High to Moderate Educated population 4-Countries EI above 0.8 have Very Educated Educated population

In the United States, women holding a bachelor's degree earned, on average, 1,352 U.S. dollars per week in the second quarter of 2024. This can be compared with male bachelor's degree holders who on average earn 1,757 U.S dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Wages and Salaries by Education: Bachelor's Degree (CXU900000LB1308M) from 1996 to 2012 about tertiary schooling, salaries, tax, education, wages, income, and USA.

In 2023, the mean income of Black Bachelor's degree holders was ****** U.S. dollars, compared to ****** U.S. dollars for White Americans with a Bachelor's degree.

Context

A striking graph from the Social Security Administration (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/factsheets/at-a-glance/earnings-men-1988-2018.html) shows that median annual earnings for all men above the age of 20 have decreased since 1988: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/factsheets/at-a-glance/earnings-men-1988-2018.svg" alt="">

I wanted to better understand how educational attainment has played a role in the above trend, and to come up with a model to forecast the future trend for earnings by educational attainment.

As I began looking at the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, there was a striking trend: the median weekly earnings for all groups of people who did not have a bachelors degree or higher had decreased from 1979 levels, in constant 2020 dollars.

Content

I collated data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab4.htm) and (https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswktabs.htm) and the US Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html) to create this dataset.

I have omitted details of gender and race, to solely look at the correlation between educational attainment and median weekly earnings over the years. All of the data is for ages 25 and higher unless otherwise stated in the column header.

An important note is that all the earnings data are in constant base 2020 dollars. This removes the effects of inflation and makes it possible to compare the numbers over the years.

The data starts at the year 1960, but unfortunately only overall labor force data, and population percentages of persons with a high school graduation (HSG) and persons with a Bachelors or Higher Degree are available. Median weekly earnings data categorized by educational attainment is available from 1979 onwards, while labor force data i.e., labor force level, labor force participation rate and the employment level by educational attainment is available only from 1992 onwards.

The only columns that have data from 1960 onwards are: (i) overall labor force level, (ii) civilian non-institutional population level, (iii) overall labor force participation rate, (iv) overall employment level, (v) overall percentage of high school graduates, and (vi) overall percentage of persons with a bachelors degree or higher.

Some of the columns can be calculated from other columns, for instance the civilian non-institutional population level can be calculated from the labor force participation rate.

Acknowledgements

All of this data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau: https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab4.htm , https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswktabs.htm and https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html .

A big thank you to all those who worked so hard to collect and organize this data.

Inspiration

The main question is: what is the best way to generate forecasts for median weekly earnings for each educational attainment level?