What Percent of Americans Have Bachelor's Degrees?

Only about 30 percent of Americans who are older than age 25 have a bachelor's degree, although more than half have at least some college training. The percentage of American adults who hold a bachelor's degree is the highest it has ever been, having increased by more than four times since the 1950s. More Americans also have bachelor's degrees than any other type of degree. About 7.5 percent of Americans hold a master's degree and only about three percent have a doctorate. More than 85 percent of American adults graduated from high school.

More facts about higher education in the U.S.:

  • Asian-Americans are more likely than Americans of any other ethnicity to have a bachelor's degree, with about half of Asian-Americans holding a bachelor's degree, compared with about 30 percent of non-Hispanic whites, about 17 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and about 11 percent of Hispanics or Latinos.

  • Women have earned more of every type of degree except for doctorates than men, with about 60 percent of associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees going to women and about 48 percent of doctorates going to women.

  • Less than 60 percent of American students entering a four-year college are likely to have a degree six years later.
More Info: www.census.gov

Discussion Comments

anon322541

I was born and raised in Hungary and attended a high school from 1973 till 1977. After I came to the United States of America in May 1980, I first taught myself to read, speak, and to write in the English language.

In 1990, I enrolled at Chicago's Northeastern Illinois University and graduated with a B.A. in 1996. The curriculum I studied at NEIU was mediocre compared to the curriculum I studied in Hungary's high school.

anon291752

College is the same as university in the USA.

anon231174

So then it seems that college education is more superior than university education, since at that rate, it means that most of the technological advancements have been largely contributed by the diploma holders in USA.

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