A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau examines trends in bachelor’s degree attainment in the United States from 2005 to 2019.
The report shows that between 2005 and 2009, on average 17.2 percent of African Americans over the age of 25 held a bachelor’s degree. For the years 2015 to 2019, on average 21.6 percent of African Americans over the age of 25 held a bachelor’s degree. Thus, there was an improvement of 4.4 percentage points over the period.
For non-Hispanic White adults over the age of 25, 30.6 percent held a bachelor’s degree in the 2005-2009 period and 35.8 percent held a bachelor’s degree during the 2015-2019 period. This is an improvement of 5.2 percentage points. Thus, the racial gap in bachelor’s degree attainment remained basically the same but with a small increase in favor of Whites.
The full report, Bachelor’s Degree Attainment in the United States: 2005 to 2019, may be downloaded by clicking here.
