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Sunday, March 27, 2022

Census: Record 37.9% of adult population in the United States has a bachelor’s degree or higher

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2022 12:23:00 PM

This was released last month by the Census Bureau: Census Bureau Releases New Educational Attainment Data

In 2021, the highest level of education of the population age 25 and older in the United States was distributed as follows:

• 8.9% had less than a high school diploma or equivalent.

• 27.9% had high school graduate as their highest level of school completed.

• 14.9% had completed some college but not a degree.

• 10.5% had an associate degree as their highest level of school completed.

23.5% had a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree.

14.4% had completed an advanced degree such as a master’s degree, professional degree or doctoral degree.
emphasis added
Educational AttainmentThis graph shows the number of adults, 25 years and older, with less than high school education, high school or some college, and a bachelor's degree or higher since 1940.

The trend towards more education has been ongoing, and there are now only 20 million adults without a high school education.  There are about 120 million with a high school education or some college.

And a record 85 million with bachelor's degree or higher.

The second graph shows the same data as a percent of the population.

Educational AttainmentIn 1940, about 76% of the adult population (over 25) had less than a high school education.  That has declined to less than 9% now.

And in 1940, only 4.6% of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher.  Now that is at a record 37.9%.

More education is one of the reasons I've argued the Future is Bright!