Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Older: 2011 100% 1% 2% Doctorate Degree 8% Professional Degree 90% 30 Percent Master’S Degree

Home , Associate degree, Diploma, Doctorate, Professional degree

Educational Attainment

Five Key Data Releases From the U.S. Census Bureau Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Older: 2011 100% 1% 2% Doctorate degree 8% Professional degree 90% 30 percent Master’s degree

80% 19% Bachelor’s degree 70%

60% 26% Some college or associate’s degree 50%

40%

30% 31% High school completion 20%

10% 12% Less than high school completion 0% 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 Percent of People 25 and Over With a Bachelor’s or Higher Degree: 1947-2011 40%

35% 30 percent 30%

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 the College-Educated Population 25 and Over Who are Asian, Black or Hispanic: 2001-2011 9% 8.1 percent 8% 8.0 percent 7.6 percent 7% 6.7 percent Population 6% 6.1 percent 5%

Educated Asian

4% Black 4.4 percent College 3% Hispanic of

2% Percent 1% 0% 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

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 Educational Attainment of the Native-born and Foreign-born Population: 2009 35%

32.3 30% 30.8 29.7 25%

20% 22.2 18.7 17.9 15% 15.8

10% 11.4

7.3 5% 7.0 1.0 1.9 1.9 2.1 0% Less than HS HS diploma Some College Bachelor's Master's Professional Doctorate or GED or Associate's Native born 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

12,732 11,305

7,723 4,936

Science and Science‐ and Business Education Arts, Humanities, and Engineering Engineering‐Related Other Fields

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 72.7

Computers, Mathematics and Statistics 66.9

Business 58.1

Biological, Agricultural, and… 57.8

Liberal Arts and History 57.0 Male Social Sciences 55.2 Female Multidisciplinary Studies 46.2 Field of Degree Communications 43.2

Visual and Performing Arts 37.8

Literature and Languages 33.1

Psychology 32.8

Science and Engineering Related Fields 30.5

Education 24.4

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 80 percent 78 percent

62 percent

52 percent

45 percent

27 percent

18 percent 13 percent What’s It Worth: The Payoff of Education Unemployment Rate by Educational Attainment, Population 25 and Older: 2008 - 2010 20% Recession period 17.9 18%

16% Less than HS/GED 14% HS Grad/GED 12%

10% Some College 8% 5.9 Bachelors 6% Degree

4% Advanced Degree 2%

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 Median Earnings for Full-Time Workers 25 Years and Over by Educational Attainment: 2009 Dollars 80,000

70,000 74,248

60,000 56,472 50,000

40,000 39,867 30,000 33,213 30,915 20,000 24,520

10,000

0 Not a high GED or Regular high Some college Bachelor's Advanced school alternative school or associate's degree degree graduate credential diploma 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) Regular Some Not a high high GED or college or school school alternative associate's Bachelor's Advanced graduate diploma credential degree degree 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

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) Regular Some Not a high high GED or college or school school alternative associate's Bachelor's Advanced graduate diploma credential degree degree 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 6,731

Bachelor's degree 5,445

Associate's degree 4,166

Vocational certificate 3,538

Some college 3,598

High school completion 3,179

Some high school 2,434

Elementary 2,136 Monthly earnings in dollars 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

4536 4257 4000 4000 3417 3200 3240 2667 Earnings in dollars

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

4536 4257 4000 4000 3417 3200 3240 2667 Earnings in dollars

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 Mean Monthly Earnings by Vocational Certificate Field Among the Population 18 Years and Over with Earnings: 2009 (Earnings in dollars)

4904 4355

3362 3179 3318 2824 2611 Earnings in dollars

High school Construction Electronics Auto Business Health care Cosmetology completion mechanics

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 Percentearnings 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