U.S. Department of Commerce

Educational Attainment

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In this Section:

American Community Survey Data on Educational Attainment

Educational attainment data in the American Community Survey are reported annually. These data provide estimates of educational attainment from 2000 to present, and are available for the U.S., states, metropolitan area, and more specific geographic areas that meet minimum population sizes for the given survey year.

DATA TABLES, PRODUCTS AND REPORTS

Field of Degree Briefs: 2011

Field of Degree Infographics: 2010

Field of Bachelor's Degree in the United States: 2009

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009

Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings Estimates (ACS-14)

  • Report [PDF – 733k]
  • Supplementary Table 1. Synthetic Estimates of Work-life Earnings and Median Annual Earnings by Educational Attainment, Work Experience and Age, 2006-2008 [XLS – 33k] [CSV – 5k]
  • Supplementary Table 2A. Median Annual Earnings Used in the Computation of Synthetic Work-life Earnings Estimates, Full-time, Year-round workers [XLS – 97k] [CSV – 50k]
  • Supplementary Table 2B. Median Annual Earnings Used in the Computation of Synthetic Work-life Earnings Estimates, All Workers with Earnings [XLS – 97k] [CSV – 50k]
  • Supplementary Table 2C. Median Annual Earnings Used in the Computation of Synthetic Work-life Earnings Estimates, All people [XLS – 33k] [CSV – 5k]

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 (P20-560 - from ACS 2007 and CPS 2008)


AVAILABLE TABULATIONS

There are over 20 recurring tables on school enrollment available from American FactFinder since 2000. Single year estimates for areas sized 65,000 and larger are available beginning in 2006 (for data year 2005). Three-year estimates for areas size 20,000 and larger are available beginning in 2008 (for data years 2005-7). Five-year estimates for census groups and larger are available beginning in 2010 (for data years 2005-9).


OTHER TECHNICAL AND ANALYTICAL REPORTS

Comparison of ACS and ASEC data on Educational Attainment: 2004

Educational Attainment Information Sheet

The educational attainment information sheet [PDF - 160k] highlights the legal requirements, federal, state, and local uses of the American Community Survey data.

Educational Attainment Fact Sheet

The educational attainment fact sheet highlights the differences between the educational attainment estimates from the American Community Survey and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey.

2009- 2010 Changes to the American Community Survey Field of Degree Data

The field of degree changes document details the changes to the data between 2009 and 2010.

RELATED PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Measurement of High School Equivalency Credentials in Census Bureau Surveys. Sarah R. Crissey and Kurt J. Bauman, SEHSD Working Paper Number 2012-3, February 2012.

Examining Small-scale Geographic Estimates from the American Community Survey 5-Year Data. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 31-April 2, 2011

Education Quality in the U.S., States, and Metropolitan Areas: Data from the 2009 American Community Survey . Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 31-April 2, 2011

Educational Characteristics of Prisoners: Data from the ACS. Stephanie Ewert and Tara Wildhagen. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 31-April 2, 2011.

Developing Synthetic Worklife Earnings Estimates. Robert Kominski, and Tiffany Julian. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Dallas, Texas, April 15-17, 2010.

Profile of the Puerto Rican Population in United States and Puerto Rico: 2008. Sonia G. Collazo, Camille L. Ryan, Kurt J. Bauman. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Dallas, Texas, April 15-17, 2010.

The Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Variation by Age, Race, Ethnicity and Nativity in the United States. Sarah R. Crissey, Nicole Scanniello, and Hyon B. Shin. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, New York, New York, March 29-31, 2007.

The Contribution of Foreign Schools to the Educational Attainment of the United States. Jessica Davis and Kurt Bauman. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Los Angeles, CA, March 30-April 1, 2006.


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Source: U.S. Census Bureau | Educational Attainment |  Last Revised: October 09, 2012