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.

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.

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.

Analysis of ‘International Educational Attainment by Year & Age’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/yamqwe/international-comp-attainmente on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

About this dataset

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.

• Table 603.10. Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who completed high school, by age group and country: Selected years, 2001 through 2012
• Table 603.20. Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who attained selected levels of postsecondary education, by age group and country: 2001 and 2012
• Table 603.30. Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who attained a bachelor's or higher degree, by age group and country: Selected years, 1999 through 2012
• Table 603.40 Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who attained a postsecondary vocational degree, by age group and country: Selected years, 1999 through 2012
• Table 603.50 Number of bachelor's degree recipients per 100 persons at the typical minimum age of graduation, by sex and country: Selected years, 2005 through 2012
• Table 603.60. Percentage of postsecondary degrees awarded to women, by field of study and country: 2013
• Table 603.70. Percentage of bachelor's or equivalent degrees awarded in mathematics, science, and engineering, by field of study and country: 2013
• Table 603.80. Percentage of master's or equivalent degrees and of doctoral or equivalent degrees awarded in mathematics, science, and engineering, by field of study and country: 2013
• Table 603.90. Employment to population ratios of -25 to 64-year-olds, by sex, highest level of educational attainment, and country: 2014

Source: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/current_tables.asp

This dataset was created by National Center for Education Statistics and contains around 100 samples along with Unnamed: 20, Unnamed: 24, technical information and other features such as: - Unnamed: 11 - Unnamed: 16 - and more.

How to use this dataset

• Analyze Unnamed: 15 in relation to Unnamed: 6
• Study the influence of Unnamed: 1 on Unnamed: 10
• More datasets

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit National Center for Education Statistics

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--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

This statistic shows the rate of educational attainment amongst 25 to 34 year olds in the United States each decade from 1940 to 2009. In 1940, 64 percent of 25 to 34 year olds didn't complete high school. In 2009, the share of people who didn't finish high school was down to 12 percent.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Bachelor's Degree, 20 to 24 years (CGBD2024) from Jan 2000 to Jun 2025 about 20 to 24 years, tertiary schooling, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.

This statistic shows the share of 25 to 34 year olds in different states across the United States who were enrolled in college or other higher education programs as of 2010. In the District of Columbia, 18.9 percent of 25 to 34 year olds were enrolled in college in 2010.

BackgroundSocioeconomic inequalities in death rates from all causes combined widened from 1960 until 1990 in the U.S., largely because cardiovascular death rates decreased more slowly in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. However, no studies have examined trends in inequalities using recent US national data.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe calculated annual age-standardized death rates from 1993–2001 for 25–64 year old non-Hispanic whites and blacks by level of education for all causes and for the seven most common causes of death using death certificate information from 43 states and Washington, D.C. Regression analysis was used to estimate annual percent change. The inequalities in all cause death rates between Americans with less than high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001 due to both significant decreases in mortality from all causes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other conditions in the most educated and lack of change or increases among the least educated. For white women, the all cause death rate increased significantly by 3.2 percent per year in the least educated and by 0.7 percent per year in high school graduates. The rate ratio (RR) comparing the least versus most educated increased from 2.9 (95% CI, 2.8–3.1) in 1993 to 4.4 (4.1–4.6) in 2001 among white men, from 2.1 (1.8–2.5) to 3.4 (2.9–3–9) in black men, and from 2.6 (2.4–2.7) to 3.8 (3.6–4.0) in white women.ConclusionSocioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated white and black men and white women, and stable or worsening trends among the least educated.

Of those aged 20 to 21 years of age in the United States, 52.8 percent were enrolled in higher education as of 2020, a considerable increase when compared to 31.9 percent in 1970. For those aged 18 to 19, 49 percent were enrolled in higher education in 2020.

During a survey held in early 2021, it was found that 83 percent of adults aged between 18 and 29 years old had read a book in any format in the previous year, up by two percent from the share who said the same in 2019. The survey results showed that adults within this age category were more likely than older respondents to have read a book within the last twelve months.

Book readers in the U.S.

While it is mostly believed that book reading is a vanishing pastime, particularly among Millennials, surveys among consumers in the U.S. have shown the opposite. The share of book readers in the U.S. has varied from 72 percent to 79 percent between 2011 and 2016.

In regards to age of book readers in the country, a 2016 survey shows about 80 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 29 had read at least one book in the previous 12 months, the highest share amongst all age groups. About 73 percent of the respondents aged between 30 to 49 years old said they read at least one book in the last 12 months. The share among respondents between 50 and 64 years old stood at 70 percent, whereas 67 percent of respondents aged 65 plus stated reading book during the time measured. In terms of education level, book readers in the U.S. are more likely to have a college degree, or at least some college education – 86 percent and 81 percent respectively. Women in the U.S. read slightly more than men; 68 percent of male respondents started reading at least one book in the previous 12 months, against 77 percent of female respondents that said the same.

Despite the rise of digital platforms and the rising popularity of e-reading devices such as Kindle, Kobo and others, printed books still remain the most popular book format in the U.S., as 65 percent of Americans stated preference for printed books in 2016. E-books were consumed by 28 percent of respondents in 2016, whereas audio books were listened by 14 percent of the respondents. Millennials accounted for the largest share of printed book readers in the U.S. – 72 percent as of 2016.