AmericaUnited States / Opportunity & connection
U.S. Bachelor’s Degree Attainment.
What share of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher?
The historical record
Source snapshot2024
Latest observation in this snapshot—not a real-time reading. +0.5 pp vs 2023.
Fitted vertical axis · missing periods are not interpolated · annual
What the number means
Share of adults age 25+ who have completed at least a bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
Educational attainment describes completed credentials, not a direct measure of learning or practical skills. It does not capture every route to opportunity, including vocational training. Age and population definitions must match when comparing.
Educational attainment is not a direct measure of learning, skills, or opportunity for everyone.
A better question to ask
Evaluate education projects with access, completion, demonstrated learning, and subsequent opportunities—not credentials alone.
This is a prompt for investigation, not evidence that a particular policy works. A trend alone cannot establish a cause.
Read the related practical guide ↗Exact observations
25 available observations since 2000. Annual and quarterly dates represent the start of the reporting period; fiscal years are labeled explicitly. Display values are rounded to the precision shown; downloads retain the source values.
Open the complete data table
| Reporting period | Period start | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 | 39.1% |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 | 38.6% |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 | 37.7% |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 | 35.0% |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 | 37.5% |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 | 36.1% |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 | 35.0% |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 | 32.0% |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 33.4% |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 | 32.5% |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 | 32.0% |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 | 31.7% |
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 | 31.1% |
| 2011 | 2011-01-01 | 30.4% |
| 2010 | 2010-01-01 | 30.0% |
| 2009 | 2009-01-01 | 29.7% |
| 2008 | 2008-01-01 | 29.5% |
| 2007 | 2007-01-01 | 29.1% |
| 2006 | 2006-01-01 | 28.4% |
| 2005 | 2005-01-01 | 27.9% |
| 2004 | 2004-01-01 | 27.7% |
| 2003 | 2003-01-01 | 27.5% |
| 2002 | 2002-01-01 | 26.9% |
| 2001 | 2001-01-01 | 26.3% |
| 2000 | 2000-01-01 | 25.9% |
Follow this series home
- Series identifier
- SE.TER.CUAT.BA.ZS
- Provider
- World Bank / original statistical sources
- Original source attribution
- Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Detailed documentation is available at: https://api.uis.unesco.org/api/public/documentation/, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), type: Bulk file (csv), date accessed: 2026-03-19, date published: 2026-02
- Frequency
- Annual
- Source units
- % of adults 25+
- Displayed units
- % of adults 25+
- Retrieval time
- 2026-10-04T09:04:46.416Z
- Provider database update
- 2026-07-13 — not the observation date
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