Question:
What are the trends in the educational level of the United States population?

Response:
Between 1971 and 2008, the educational attainment of 25- to 29-year-olds increased. In 2008, for example, 88 percent of these young adults had received at least a high school diploma or equivalency certificate, a 10 percentage point increase from 1971. Although the high school completion rate increased 8 percentage points during the 1970s, it has remained between 85 and 88 percent since the late 1970s.

In 1971, a higher percentage of Whites than Blacks or Hispanics had completed high school (82 vs. 59 and 48 percent, respectively). The high school completion rate for Blacks increased between 1971 and 2008 from 59 to 88 percent, and the gap between Blacks and Whites decreased from 23 to 6 percentage points during this period. Between 1971 and 2008, the high school completion rate for Hispanics increased from 48 to 68 percent, and the gap between Hispanics and Whites decreased from 33 to 25 percentage points. In 1990, a higher percentage of Asians/Pacific Islanders had completed high school than Blacks and Hispanics (90 vs. 82 and 58 percent, respectively). Between 1990 and 2008, there were no measurable changes in the size of the gaps between Asians/Pacific Islanders and Blacks and Hispanics, respectively. In 2008, the high school completion rates for Blacks and Hispanics remained below those of Whites and Asians/Pacific Islanders (88 and 68 vs. 94 and 96 percent, respectively).

Between 1971 and 2000, the percentage of 25- to 29-year-olds who had completed a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 17 to 29 percent; however, the rate in 2008, at 31 percent, showed no measurable difference from the rate in 2000. Between 1971 and 2008, the percentage who had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 19 to 37 percent for Whites, from 7 to 20 percent for Blacks, and from 5 to 12 percent for Hispanics. Between 1990 and 2008, the percentage of Asians/Pacific Islanders who had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 42 to 58 percent, although most of this increase (11 percentage points) occurred between 1995 and 2000. Between 2000 and 2008, there was no measurable difference in the percentage of Asians/Pacific Islanders who had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher. Between 1971 and 2008, the gap favoring Whites over Blacks widened from 12 to 17 percentage points, and the gap favoring Whites over Hispanics widened from 14 to 25 percentage points. Between 1990 and 2008, the gap favoring Asians/Pacific Islanders over Whites widened from 16 to 21 percentage points.

In 2008, some 7 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds had completed a master’s degree. Between 1995 and 2008, the rate of master’s degree attainment increased for Whites (from 5 to 8 percent), Blacks (from 2 to 4 percent), and Asians/Pacific Islanders (from 11 to 20 percent). The percentage of Whites who had attained a master’s degree in 2008 was higher than the percentages of Blacks and Hispanics who had done so, and the percentage of Asians/Pacific Islanders who had attained a master’s degree was higher than those of their peers of all other races/ethnicities.

Gender gaps in educational attainment switched from favoring males in 1971 to favoring females in 2008. For example, between 1971 and 2008, the percentage completing at least high school shifted from favoring males by 3 percentage points to favoring females by 4 percentage points, and the percentage completing a bachelor’s degree or higher shifted from favoring males by 7 percentage points to favoring females by 8 percentage points.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2008). The Condition of Education 2009 (NCES 2009–081), Indicator 23.

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2009, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 11. Educational attainment of persons 18 years old and over, by state: 2000 and 2006
  
• 2009, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 12. Educational attainment of persons 25 years old and over, by race/ethnicity and state: 2006
  
• 2009, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 13. Educational attainment of persons 25 years old and over for the 25 largest states, by sex: 2006
  
• 2009, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 8. Percentage of persons age 25 and over and 25 to 29, by race/ethnicity, years of school completed, and sex: Selected years, 1910 through 2008
  
• 2009, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 9. Number of persons age 18 and over, by highest level of education attained, age, sex, and race/ethnicity: 2008
  
• 2004, The Condition of Education 2004: Trends in undergraduate persistence and completion
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2008, Recent Participation in Formal Learning Among Working-Age Adults with Different Levels of Education
  
• 2006, Economic Outcomes of High School Completers and Noncompleters 8 Years Later
  
• 2006, Profile of Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Education Institutions: 2003-04, With a Special Analysis of Community College Students
  
• 2006, The Adult Lives of At-Risk Students: The Roles of Attainment and Engagement in High School
  
• 2005, Educational Attainment of High School Dropouts 8 Years Later
  
• 2004, ED TAB: The High School Sophomore Class of 2002: A Demographic Description. First Results From the Base Year of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002
  
• 2002, Coming of Age in the 1990s: The Eighth-Grade Class of 1988 12 Years Later