Nearly 6 Million Living African Americans Hold a Four-Year College Degree

Census_Bureau_seal.svgThe U.S. Bureau of the Census has just released its annual data on Educational Attainment in the United States. The report shows that in 2014, nearly 6 million living African Americans now hold at least a four-year college degree. The data shows that in 2014, of the 24,864,000 living African Americans 25 years or older, 22.2 percent had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree.

Another 10.3 percent of the adult Black population had earned a two-year associate’s degree but no higher degree.

Blacks have made tremendous progress in degree attainments, but a significant racial gap remains. More than 35.6 percent of non-Hispanic Whites over the age of 25 in 2014 had a four-year college degree.

In 2014, more than 1.5 million, 6.1 percent of adult African Americans, held a master’s degree but no higher degree. For non-Hispanic Whites the figure was 9.6 percent.

The data shows that 179,000 African Americans in 2014 held a professional degree and 206,000 had obtained a doctorate.

There are also 3.5 million African Americans over the age of 25 who have not completed high school. They make up 14.2 percent of adult Black population.

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