Record Shares of Young Adults Have Finished Both High School and College

The Pew Research Center has recently published an analysis of educational attainment in the United States. Drawing on data from the March 2012 Current Population Survey (CPS), the report looks specifically at the high school and college completion rates of adults ages 25 and older. Highlights of the report include:

• Over the past 40 years, the adult population in the United States has reached greater levels of educational attainment. In 1971, only 12 percent of the adults in the U.S. had a bachelor’s degree or higher, only 22 percent had some college, and only 57 percent had a high school diploma.


• In 2012, among all adults ages 25 and older, 31 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 57 percent had some college, and 88 percent had a high school diploma. These levels of educational attainment are even higher when looking at the young adult population alone. In 2012, among young adults ages 25-29 the proportion are higher–33 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 63 percent had some college, and 90 percent had a high school diploma.


• Although record proportions of adults in the U.S. have higher levels of educational attainment than in years past, gaps persist among racial and ethnic groups. Among young adults ages 25 to 29, Asians have the highest level of college completion. In 2012, 60 percent of Asians had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 40 percent of Whites had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 23 percent of Blacks had a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 15 percent of Hispanics had a bachelor’s degree or higher.


• In the last 20 years, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of 25 to 29 year olds having completed some college, rising from 45 percent in 1991 to 63 percent in 2012. Such increases have occurred among all major racial and ethnic groups. In 2012, 81 percent of Asians had completed some college, 69 percent of Whites had completed some college, 59 percent of Blacks had completed some college, and 41 percent of Hispanics had completed some college.