About 38.6% of American adults age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2024. That translates to roughly 86 million people. The share climbs even higher when you include associate’s degrees, and it varies significantly by age, gender, and race.
Overall Attainment Rates
The Census Bureau’s 2024 data shows that 38.6% of adults 25 and older have completed at least a bachelor’s degree. Among employed workers specifically, the number skews higher: 44.5% of the workforce holds a bachelor’s degree or higher as their highest level of education. Another 49.3% of employed workers hold a high school diploma or associate degree as their top credential.
For younger adults between 25 and 29, the picture is slightly different. About 40% of that age group had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher as of 2022, and 49% held at least an associate’s degree. One in ten had already completed a master’s degree or above.
Degree Holders by Age Group
Younger generations are more likely to hold a college degree than older ones, but the gap isn’t as dramatic as you might expect. In 2024, 42.8% of adults ages 25 to 39 had a bachelor’s degree or higher. The rate for adults 40 to 54 was close behind at 41.5%. The biggest drop comes with the 55-and-older group, where 34.2% hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
That pattern reflects decades of rising college enrollment. Each generation has sent a larger share of its members to college than the one before it, though the pace of growth has slowed in recent years.
Men, Women, and the Gender Shift
Women now outpace men in college completion. In 2024, 40.1% of women age 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 37.1% of men. This is a relatively recent reversal. For most of the 20th century, men were more likely to hold degrees. The crossover happened in the early 2000s, and the gap has widened since.
Attainment by Race and Ethnicity
College completion rates differ sharply across racial and ethnic groups. Among 25- to 29-year-olds in 2022, Asian young adults had the highest bachelor’s degree attainment at 72%, followed by white young adults at 45%. Black and Pacific Islander young adults each held bachelor’s degrees at a rate of 28%, while Hispanic young adults stood at 25%. American Indian and Alaska Native young adults had the lowest rate of associate’s-or-higher attainment at 19%.
The disparities widen at the graduate level. About 31% of Asian 25- to 29-year-olds held a master’s degree or higher, compared to 11% of white, 6% of Black, and 4% of Hispanic young adults in the same age range. These gaps reflect longstanding differences in access, affordability, and completion support that compound across generations.
What a Degree Means for Earnings
The financial payoff of a college degree remains substantial. In 2024, full-time workers with a bachelor’s degree earned median weekly wages of $1,543, which works out to about $80,200 per year. Workers with only a high school diploma earned a median of $930 per week, or roughly $48,400 annually. That’s a difference of more than $31,000 a year.
The gap shows up in job stability too. The unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree holders was 2.5% in 2024, compared to 4.2% for those with a high school diploma. Over the course of a career, the combination of higher pay and lower unemployment risk adds up to a significant financial advantage, though the size of that advantage depends heavily on your field of study and how much debt you take on to get the degree.
How the U.S. Compares Over Time
College attainment in the United States has grown steadily for decades. In 1990, only about 20% of adults held a bachelor’s degree. By 2010, it had climbed to roughly 30%. The jump to nearly 39% by 2024 means the country has nearly doubled its share of degree holders in just over 30 years.
That said, growth has been uneven. Much of the increase has been concentrated among women and Asian and white populations, while gains for other groups have been slower. And while the U.S. was once a global leader in college attainment, several other developed nations have caught up or surpassed it, particularly among younger adults. Countries like Canada, South Korea, and Japan now have higher shares of young adults with postsecondary credentials.
College Degrees Among Workers
The workforce is more educated than the general adult population because degree holders are more likely to be employed. Nearly 45% of all employed workers in 2024 held a bachelor’s degree or higher. In many professional fields like healthcare, technology, finance, and education, a bachelor’s degree has become the baseline expectation rather than a competitive advantage.
For workers without a four-year degree, the labor market still offers pathways through trade certifications, associate’s degrees, and employer-sponsored training. But the earnings data makes clear that a bachelor’s degree remains one of the strongest predictors of higher lifetime income in the American economy.