Educational Attainment Five Key Data Releases From the U.S. Census Bureau
100% 90% 80% 70% Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Older: 2011 30 percent 1% 2% 8% 19% Doctorate degree Professional degree Master s degree Bachelor s degree 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 26% 31% Some college or associate s degree High school completion 10% 0% 12% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2011 The percentage with a professional degree is not statistically different from the percentage with a doctoral degree Less than high school completion
40% 35% 30% Percent of People 25 and Over With a Bachelor s or Higher Degree: 1947-2011 30 percent 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 5 percent 0% 1947 1962 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2011
Percent of College Educated Population 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% Percent of the College-Educated Population 25 and Over Who are Asian, Black or Hispanic: 2001-2011 8.1 percent 6.7 percent 4.4 percent 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 8.0 percent 7.6 percent 6.1 percent Asian Black Hispanic Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2011 The 2011 estimate of people who hold a bachelor's degree that are Asian is not statistically different from the 2001 estimate for Asians and is not statistically different from the 2011 estimate for Blacks
35% Educational Attainment of the Native-born and Foreign-born Population: 2009 30% 32.3 29.7 30.8 25% 20% 22.2 15% 18.7 17.9 15.8 10% 11.4 5% 0% Less than HS HS diploma or GED Some College or Associate's Native born 7.3 7.0 1.9 2.1 1.0 1.9 Bachelor's Master's Professional Doctorate Foreign born Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Field of Bachelor s Degree
Distribution of Bachelor s Degree Holders by Selected Fields: 2009 (Numbers in thousands) 19,640 11,305 12,732 7,723 4,936 Science and Engineering Science and Engineering Related Fields Business Education Arts, Humanities, and Other Note: Data are for the population 25 and over with at least a bachelor's degree. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Washington 41% Maryland 41% District of Columbia 48% California 41%
Sex Distribution Within Field of Bachelor s Degree: 2009 Engineering 87.2 Physical and Related Sciences Computers, Mathematics and Statistics 66.9 72.7 Business 58.1 Biological, Agricultural, and 57.8 Field of Degree Liberal Arts and History Social Sciences Multidisciplinary Studies Communications 46.2 43.2 57.0 55.2 Male Female Visual and Performing Arts 37.8 Literature and Languages 33.1 Psychology 32.8 Science and Engineering Related Fields Education 24.4 30.5 Note: Data are for the population 25 and over with at least a bachelor's degree. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
78 percent 80 percent 62 percent 52 percent 45 percent 27 percent 13 percent 18 percent
What s It Worth: The Payoff of Education
20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% Unemployment Rate by Educational Attainment, Population 25 and Older: 2008-2010 Recession period 17.9 Less than HS/GED HS Grad/GED Some College 8% 6% 4% 2% 5.9 Bachelors Degree Advanced Degree 0% Jan 2008 Jul 2008 Jan 2009 Jul 2009 Jan 2010 Jul 2010 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2008, 2009, 2010.
Mean, Median and Average Mean Total divided by number of people Median Amount where half the people have more, half have less Average Usually refers to mean, but no strict definition
Dollars 80,000 Median Earnings for Full-Time Workers 25 Years and Over by Educational Attainment: 2009 70,000 74,248 60,000 50,000 56,472 40,000 30,000 20,000 24,520 30,915 33,213 39,867 10,000 0 Not a high school graduate GED or alternative credential Regular high school diploma Some college or associate's degree Bachelor's degree Advanced degree Educational Attainment Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Median Earnings for Full-Time Workers 25 Years and Over by Educational Attainment and Age: 2009 (Earnings in dollars) Not a high school graduate Regular high school diploma GED or alternative credential Some college or associate's degree Bachelor's degree Advanced degree Age group: 25 to 34 years 22,000 28,700 27,900 33,200 46,000 56,300 35 to 44 years 24,800 34,000 31,500 41,200 61,700 78,600 45 to 64 years 26,200 35,900 32,900 44,000 63,300 82,100 65 years and over 24,200 30,300 28,000 38,000 52,700 77,400 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Median Earnings for Full-Time Workers 25 Years and Over by Educational Attainment and Sex: 2009 (Earnings in dollars) Not a high school graduate Regular high school diploma GED or alternative credential Some college or associate's degree Bachelor's degree Advanced degree Sex: Male 48,200 27,500 38,400 35,500 46,500 64,900 Female 37,200 20,000 28,200 25,800 34,400 48,200 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Median Earnings for Full-Time Workers 25 Years and Over by Educational Attainment, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 2009 (Earnings in dollars) Not a high school graduate Regular high school diploma GED or alternative credential Some college or associate's degree Bachelor's degree Advanced degree Race and Hispanic origin: White alone 25,600 34,900 31,500 41,300 58,100 75,300 Non Hispanic White alone 29,200 36,000 31,800 41,900 58,800 76,000 Black alone 23,300 29,000 27,300 34,800 47,200 61,800 Asian alone 23,600 28,500 32,600 38,700 58,200 82,700 Hispanic (of any race) 22,500 27,900 29,500 35,600 46,800 62,000 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009
Mean Monthly Earnings by Educational Attainment Among the Population 18 Years and Over with Earnings: 2009 Professional degree 11,927 Doctorate degree 8,434 Master's degree Bachelor's degree Associate's degree Vocational certificate Some college High school completion Some high school Elementary 6,731 5,445 4,166 3,538 3,598 3,179 2,434 2,136 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel Monthly earnings in dollars
Median Monthly Earnings by Selected Field of Training and Education Levels: 2009 6198 5750 Earnings in dollars 4257 4000 4536 4000 3200 3240 3417 2667 Engineering Computers Business Liberal arts Education Bachelor's degree Associate's degree Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel
Median Monthly Earnings by Selected Field of Training and Education Levels: 2009 6198 5750 Earnings in dollars 4257 4000 4536 4000 3200 3240 3417 2667 Engineering Computers Business Liberal arts Education Bachelor's degree Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel Associate's degree
Mean Monthly Earnings by Vocational Certificate Field Among the Population 18 Years and Over with Earnings: 2009 (Earnings in dollars) 4904 4355 Earnings in dollars 3179 3362 3318 2824 2611 High school completion Construction Electronics Auto mechanics Business Health care Cosmetology Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel
High School Equivalency (GED)
Characteristics of GED and High School Diploma Holders Among the Population 18 Years and Over: 2009 (Earnings in dollars) GED High school diploma Mean monthly Mean monthly Percent earnings Percent earnings Total 100.0 3,149 100.0 4,690 Highest Degree Level High school graduate 57.3 2,922 27.2 3,222 Some college 38.0 3,192 39.6 3,794 Bachelor's degree or higher 4.8 4,852 33.2 6,305 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel
Educational Attainment Over 30 percent of adults have bachelor s or higher degrees Number of Hispanic adults with bachelor s degrees grew 80 percent from 2001-2011 People with higher education have experienced lower unemployment in the recent recession Nearly half of all people with science and engineering degrees located on the West coast or East coast
For Further Information www.census.gov 1-800-923-8282