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 Black or African American by Highest Education: Less Than College Graduate: Associate's Degree (CXU980270LB1406M) from 2012 to 2023 about no college, consumer unit, associate degree, African-American, education, percent, and USA.

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.

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.

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.

Researchers have examined racial and gender patterns of intergenerational education mobility, but less attention has been given to the ways that race and gender interact to further shape these relationships. Based on data from the General Social Survey, this study examined the trajectories of education mobility among Blacks and Whites by gender over the past century. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression models revealed three noteworthy patterns. First, Black men and women have closed substantial gaps with their White counterparts in intergenerational education mobility. At relatively low levels of parental education, these gains have been experienced equally among Black men and women. However, Black men are most disadvantaged at the highest levels of parental education relative to Black women and Whites in general. Finally, the advantages in education mobility experienced by White men in the early and midpart of the 20th century have largely eroded. White women, in contrast, have made steady gains in education mobility across a variety of parental education levels.

This map shows the percentage of people age 25+ whose highest education level is an associate's degree. 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. For more information about the education attainment breakdown from the US 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.

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).

This layer shows education level for adults (25+) by race by sex. This is shown by tract, county, and state centroids. This service is updated annually to contain the most currently released American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data, and contains estimates and margins of error. There are also additional calculated attributes related to this topic, which can be mapped or used within analysis. This layer is symbolized to show the count and percent of adults age 25+ who have a bachelor's degree or higher as their highest education level. To see the full list of attributes available in this service, go to the "Data" tab, and choose "Fields" at the top right. Current Vintage: 2019-2023ACS Table(s): B15002, C15002B, C15002C, C15002D, C15002E, C15002F, C15002G, C15002H, C15002I (Not all lines of these ACS tables are available in this layer.)Data downloaded from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey Date of API call: December 12, 2024National Figures: data.census.govThe United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS):About the SurveyGeography & ACSTechnical DocumentationNews & UpdatesThis ready-to-use layer can be used within ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, its configurable apps, dashboards, Story Maps, custom apps, and mobile apps. Data can also be exported for offline workflows. For more information about ACS layers, visit the FAQ. Please cite the Census and ACS when using this data.Data Note from the Census:Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.Data Processing Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the most current vintage of ACS data is released each year, usually in December. The layer always contains the latest available ACS 5-year estimates. It is updated annually within days of the Census Bureau's release schedule. Click here to learn more about ACS data releases.Boundaries come from the US Census TIGER geodatabases, specifically, the National Sub-State Geography Database (named tlgdb_(year)_a_us_substategeo.gdb). Boundaries are updated at the same time as the data updates (annually), and the boundary vintage appropriately matches the data vintage as specified by the Census. These are Census boundaries with water and/or coastlines erased for cartographic and mapping purposes. For census tracts, the water cutouts are derived from a subset of the 2020 Areal Hydrography boundaries offered by TIGER. Water bodies and rivers which are 50 million square meters or larger (mid to large sized water bodies) are erased from the tract level boundaries, as well as additional important features. For state and county boundaries, the water and coastlines are derived from the coastlines of the 2020 500k TIGER Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles. These are erased to more accurately portray the coastlines and Great Lakes. The original AWATER and ALAND fields are still available as attributes within the data table (units are square meters). The States layer contains 52 records - all US states, Washington D.C., and Puerto RicoCensus tracts with no population that occur in areas of water, such as oceans, are removed from this data service (Census Tracts beginning with 99).Percentages and derived counts, and associated margins of error, are calculated values (that can be identified by the "_calc_" stub in the field name), and abide by the specifications defined by the American Community Survey.Field alias names were created based on the Table Shells file available from the American Community Survey Summary File Documentation page.Negative values (e.g., -4444...) have been set to null, with the exception of -5555... which has been set to zero. These negative values exist in the raw API data to indicate the following situations:The margin of error column indicates that either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute a standard error and thus the margin of error. A statistical test is not appropriate.Either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute an estimate, or a ratio of medians cannot be calculated because one or both of the median estimates falls in the lowest interval or upper interval of an open-ended distribution.The median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution, or in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution. A statistical test is not appropriate.The estimate is controlled. A statistical test for sampling variability is not appropriate.The data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

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.

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

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

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.

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

This map shows the percentage of people age 25+ with a bachelor's degree or higher education level. 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. For more information about the education attainment breakdown from the US 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.

The National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (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 were developed from the 2022-2023 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 M

Indicates that the data are missing.

-2 or N

Indicates that the data are not applicable.

-9

Indicates that the data do not meet NCES data quality standards.

All 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 layer was developed by the Research & Analytics Group of the Atlanta Regional Commission, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-year estimates for 2013-2017, to show levels of educational attainment by State of Georgia in the Atlanta region. The user should note that American Community Survey data represent estimates derived from a surveyed sample of the population, which creates some level of uncertainty, as opposed to an exact measure of the entire population (the full census count is only conducted once every 10 years and does not cover as many detailed characteristics of the population). Therefore, any measure reported by ACS should not be taken as an exact number – this is why a corresponding margin of error (MOE) is also given for ACS measures. The size of the MOE relative to its corresponding estimate value provides an indication of confidence in the accuracy of each estimate. Each MOE is expressed in the same units as its corresponding measure; for example, if the estimate value is expressed as a number, then its MOE will also be a number; if the estimate value is expressed as a percent, then its MOE will also be a percent. The user should also note that for relatively small geographic areas, such as census tracts shown here, ACS only releases combined 5-year estimates, meaning these estimates represent rolling averages of survey results that were collected over a 5-year span (in this case 2013-2017). Therefore, these data do not represent any one specific point in time or even one specific year. For geographic areas with larger populations, 3-year and 1-year estimates are also available. For further explanation of ACS estimates and margin of error, visit Census ACS website. Naming conventions: Prefixes:NoneCountpPercentrRatemMedianaMean (average)tAggregate (total)chChange in absolute terms (value in t2 - value in t1)pchPercent change ((value in t2 - value in t1) / value in t1)chpChange in percent (percent in t2 - percent in t1)Suffixes:NoneChange over two periods_eEstimate from most recent ACS_mMargin of Error from most recent ACS_00Decennial 2000 Attributes: SumLevelSummary level of geographic unit (e.g., County, Tract, NSA, NPU, DSNI, SuperDistrict, etc)GEOIDCensus tract Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) code NAMEName of geographic unitPlanning_RegionPlanning region designation for ARC purposesAcresTotal area within the tract (in acres)SqMiTotal area within the tract (in square miles)CountyCounty identifier (combination of Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) codes for state and county)CountyNameCounty NamePop25P_e# Population 25 years and over, 2017Pop25P_m# Population 25 years and over, 2017 (MOE)NoHS_e# Population 25 years and over, less than 9th grade education, 2017NoHS_m# Population 25 years and over, less than 9th grade education, 2017 (MOE)pNoHS_e% Population 25 years and over, less than 9th grade education, 2017pNoHS_m% Population 25 years and over, less than 9th grade education, 2017 (MOE)SomeHS_e# Population 25 years and over, 9th-12th grade, no diploma, 2017SomeHS_m# Population 25 years and over, 9th-12th grade, no diploma, 2017 (MOE)pSomeHS_e% Population 25 years and over, 9th-12th grade, no diploma, 2017pSomeHS_m% Population 25 years and over, 9th-12th grade, no diploma, 2017 (MOE)HSGrad_e# Population 25 years and over, high school graduate (includes GED), 2017HSGrad_m# Population 25 years and over, high school graduate (includes GED), 2017 (MOE)pHSGrad_e% Population 25 years and over, high school graduate (includes GED), 2017pHSGrad_m% Population 25 years and over, high school graduate (includes GED), 2017 (MOE)SomeColl_e# Population 25 years and over, some college, no degree, 2017SomeColl_m# Population 25 years and over, some college, no degree, 2017 (MOE)pSomeColl_e% Population 25 years and over, some college, no degree, 2017pSomeColl_m% Population 25 years and over, some college, no degree, 2017 (MOE)Associates_e# Population 25 years and over, associate's degree, 2017Associates_m# Population 25 years and over, associate's degree, 2017 (MOE)pAssociates_e% Population 25 years and over, associate's degree, 2017pAssociates_m% Population 25 years and over, associate's degree, 2017 (MOE)BA_e# Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree, 2017BA_m# Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree, 2017 (MOE)pBA_e% Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree, 2017pBA_m% Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree, 2017 (MOE)GradProf_e# Population 25 years and over, graduate or professional degree, 2017GradProf_m# Population 25 years and over, graduate or professional degree, 2017 (MOE)pGradProf_e% Population 25 years and over, graduate or professional degree, 2017pGradProf_m% Population 25 years and over, graduate or professional degree, 2017 (MOE)LtHS_e# Population 25 years and over, Less than high school graduate, 2017LtHS_m# Population 25 years and over, Less than high school graduate, 2017 (MOE)pLtHS_e% Population 25 years and over, Less than high school graduate, 2017pLtHS_m% Population 25 years and over, Less than high school graduate, 2017 (MOE)HSPlus_e# Population 25 years and over, high school graduate or higher, 2017HSPlus_m# Population 25 years and over, high school graduate or higher, 2017 (MOE)pHSPlus_e% Population 25 years and over, high school graduate or higher, 2017pHSPlus_m% Population 25 years and over, high school graduate or higher, 2017 (MOE)BAPlus_e# Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree or higher, 2017BAPlus_m# Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree or higher, 2017 (MOE)pBAPlus_e% Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree or higher, 2017pBAPlus_m% Population 25 years and over, bachelor's degree or higher, 2017 (MOE)last_edited_dateLast date the feature was edited by ARC Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Atlanta Regional CommissionDate: 2013-2017 For additional information, please visit the Census ACS website.

Over the past five years, for-profit universities have faced mounting headwinds amid regulatory tightening, inflation and negative public perception. While data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that overall postsecondary enrollment grew by just 0.5% from 2020 to 2025, enrollment at for-profit institutions shrank by 4.1%. Ballooning student debt and rising tuition, made worse by inflation in 2022 and 2023, have driven many recent graduates and adult learners to second-guess the value of higher education, especially degrees from for-profit schools with poor graduate earnings. Government regulations added further strain as the Biden administration's 2024 reinstatement of gainful employment rules once again linked access to federal funding to graduate debt-to-income ratios. At the same time, for-profit schools battled declining revenue as affordable nonprofit and vocational programs drew away budget-conscious students. Industry revenue has dropped at a CAGR of 0.5% to an estimated $13.6 billion over the five years through 2025. A faltering reputation has played a major role in the industry's decline. According to Federal Student Aid data, for-profit universities are repeatedly criticized for low graduation rates, weak graduate earnings and high student loan default rates—the highest across any demographic. Allegations of predatory practices remain in the headlines, exemplified by Walden University's $28.5 million lawsuit settlement in 2024. Although these institutions offer flexible scheduling and lower tuition rates that appeal to low-income and nontraditional students, the public remains wary. Studies indicate that most programs with no positive return on investment are at for-profit colleges. Meanwhile, stricter government scrutiny and the widespread availability of earnings and debt data have made poor outcomes highly visible, solidifying the negative perception. Many for-profit universities have shuttered, though some have managed to retain profit by closing physical locations. For-profit universities will continue facing a decline over the next five years. IBISWorld expects for-profit university enrollment to drop at an annualized 1.1% through 2030, outpaced by modest growth at nonprofit and vocational schools, where graduates see better employment outcomes. Uncertainty in regulations, including the possible repeal of the 90/10 rule, adds more volatility, while the lack of broad student loan forgiveness will likely suppress affordability and demand. As students and job seekers prioritize educational outcomes and cost, one in seven for-profit universities is expected to close by 2030. For-profit universities' revenue is set to sink at a CAGR of 0.3% to an estimated $13.4 billion through the next five years.