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

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 Consumer Unit Characteristics: Percent White, Asian, and All Other Races, Not Including African American by Highest Education: College Graduate: Master's, Professional, Doctoral Degree (CXUWHTNDOTHLB1409M) from 2012 to 2023 about doctoral degree, consumer unit, professional, asian, tertiary schooling, white, education, percent, and USA.

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 map shows the percentage of people age 25+ whose highest education level is some college. This is shown by state, county, and census tracts throughout the US. Zoom to any city to see the pattern there, or use one of the bookmarks to explore different areas.Some college education means that the individual has some college credits, but no degree. For more information from the Census Bureau, click here.The pop-up is configured to show the overall breakdown of educational attainment for the population 25+. The data shown is current-year American Community Survey (ACS) data from the US Census Bureau. The data is updated each year when the ACS releases its new 5-year estimates. For more information about the data, visit this page.To learn more about when the ACS releases data updates, click here.

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

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.

United States US: School Enrollment: Secondary: Female: % Gross data was reported at 97.698 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 96.379 % for 2014. United States US: School Enrollment: Secondary: Female: % Gross data is updated yearly, averaging 94.920 % from Dec 1972 (Median) to 2015, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 98.104 % in 1998 and a record low of 60.766 % in 1972. United States US: School Enrollment: Secondary: 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. Secondary education completes the provision of basic education that began at the primary level, and aims at laying the foundations for lifelong learning and human development, by offering more subject- or skill-oriented instruction using more specialized teachers.; ; 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).

The American Community Survey (ACS) is designed to estimate the characteristic distribution of populations and estimated counts should only be used to calculate percentages. They do not represent the actual population counts or totals. Beginning in 2019, the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) has measured educational attainment for the Roadmap Progress Report using one-year American Community Survey (ACS) data from the United States Census Bureau. These public microdata represents the most current data, but it is limited to areas with larger populations leading to some multi-county regions*. *The American Community Survey is not the official source of population counts. It is designed to show the characteristics of the nation's population and should not be used as actual population counts or housing totals for the nation, states or counties. The official population count — including population by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin — comes from the once-a-decade census, supplemented by annual population estimates (which do not typically contain educational attainment variables) from the following groups and surveys: -- Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM): https://www.ofm.wa.gov/washington-data-research/population-demographics -- US Census Decennial Census: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html and Population Estimates Program: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html **In prior years, WSAC used both the five-year and three-year (now discontinued) data. While the 5-year estimates provide a larger sample, they are not recommended for year to year trends and also are released later than the one-year files. Detailed information about the ACS at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance.html

Graph and download economic data for Expenditures: Reading by Highest Education: College Graduate: Bachelor's Degree (CXUREADINGLB1408M) from 2012 to 2023 about book, tertiary schooling, expenditures, education, and USA.

This statistic shows the breakdown of educational attainment among different Hispanic population groups aged 25 and older and living in the United States in 2013. In 2013, 31 percent of people of Peruvian origin, that were living in the United States had a bachelor's degree or higher.

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

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).

This web map shows the predominant education level attained by the US population aged 25 or over. This is shown by Census Tract and County centroids. This data is from the 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-year estimates in the S1501 Table for Educational Attainment by age and gender. The popup in the map provides a breakdown of the highest level of education attained by the population in an area.The color of the symbols represent the most common level of education. This predominance map style compares the count of people based on their highest level of education, and returns the value with the highest count. The census breaks down the 25+ population by the following education levels:Less than 9th grade9th to 12th grade [no diploma]High school graduate [includes equivalency]Some College [no degree]Associates degreeBachelor's degreeGraduate or professional degreeThe size of the symbols represents how many people are 25 years or older, which helps highlight the quantity of people that live within an area. The strength of the color represents HOW predominant an education level is within an area. If the symbol is a strong color, it makes up a larger portion of the population. This map helps to show the most common level of education at a local and regional level. The tract pattern shows how distinct neighborhoods are clustered by their level of education. The county pattern shows an rural/urban difference in education. This pattern is shown by census tracts at large scales, and counties at smaller scales.This data was downloaded from the United States Census Bureau American Fact Finder on January 10, 2018. It was then joined with 2016 vintage centroid points and hosted to ArcGIS Online and the Living Atlas as hosted feature layers. Census Tract Centroid Layer with educational attainment attributesCounties Layer with educational attainment attributesNationally, the breakdown of education for the population 25+ is as follows:

Total Estimate Margin of Error Percent Estimate Margin of Error

Population 25 years and over 213,649,147 +/-15,761 (X) (X)

Less than 9th grade 11,913,913 +/-60,796 5.60% +/-0.1

9th to 12th grade, no diploma 15,904,467 +/-70,156 7.40% +/-0.1

High school graduate (includes equivalency) 58,820,411 +/-182,369 27.50% +/-0.1

Some college, no degree 44,772,845 +/-41,794 21.00% +/-0.1

Associate's degree 17,469,724 +/-41,879 8.20% +/-0.1

Bachelor's degree 40,189,920 +/-142,140 18.80% +/-0.1

Graduate or professional degree 24,577,867 +/-151,189 11.50% +/-0.1

This map shows the predominant highest level of education for the population age 25+ in the United States. This is shown by state, county, and census tracts throughout the US. Click on a feature to learn more about the breakdown of population by their highest level of education.The categories are grouped as:Less than High SchoolHigh SchoolAssociate's DegreeSome CollegeBachelor's Degree or HigherThe data shown is current-year American Community Survey (ACS) data from the US Census. The data is updated each year when the ACS releases its new 5-year estimates. For more information about the data layer used in this map, visit this page.To learn more about when the ACS releases data updates, click here.

BackgroundLife expectancy at birth in the United States will likely surpass 80 years in the coming decade. Yet recent studies suggest that longevity gains are unevenly shared across age and socioeconomic groups. First, mortality in midlife has risen among non-Hispanic whites. Second, low-educated whites have suffered stalls (men) or declines (women) in adult life expectancy, which is significantly lower than among their college-educated counterparts. Estimating the number of life years lost or gained by age and cause of death, broken down by educational attainment, is crucial in identifying vulnerable populations.Methods and FindingsUsing U.S. vital statistics data from 1990 to 2010, this study decomposes the change in life expectancy at age 25 by age and cause of death across educational attainment groups, broken down by race and gender. The findings reveal that mortality in midlife increased for white women (and to a lesser extent men) with 12 or fewer years of schooling, accounting for most of the stalls or declines in adult life expectancy observed in those groups. Among blacks, mortality declined in nearly all age and educational attainment groups. Although an educational gradient was found across multiple causes of death, between 60 and 80 percent of the gap in adult life expectancy was explained by cardiovascular diseases, smoking-related diseases, and external causes of death. Furthermore, the number of life years lost to smoking-related, external, and other causes of death increased among low- and high school-educated whites, explaining recent stalls or declines in longevity.ConclusionsLarge segments of the American population—particularly low- and high school-educated whites under age 55—are diverging from their college-educated counterparts and losing additional years of life to smoking-related diseases and external causes of death. If this trend continues, old-age mortality may also increase for these birth cohorts in the coming decades.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Wages and Salaries by Highest Education: Less Than College Graduate: High School Graduate with Some College (CXU900000LB1405M) from 2012 to 2023 about no college, secondary schooling, secondary, salaries, tax, education, wages, income, and USA.

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, 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.

This statistic shows a comparison of the highest level of education completed in Latin America in 2004 and 2014. In 2014, ** percent of Latin American students had completed secondary education, up from ** percent back in 2004.