Census tables show widening college attainment across age and work
The 2025 Current Population Survey finds bachelor’s-level attainment highest among prime-age adults and concentrated in professional occupations.
The new table package describes education across the adult population
The Census Bureau has released its Educational Attainment in the United States: 2025 table package, providing national estimates for adults age 18 and older by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity, occupation and industry. The statistics come from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement and describe the population in 2025.
Among adults ages 25 to 54, about 43 percent held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 35 percent of people age 55 and older. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 65 percent had completed high school, 19 percent had an associate’s degree or higher and 16 percent had less than a high-school education.
Those categories describe highest attainment at different life stages and should not be read as a graduation rate. Many people ages 18 to 24 are still enrolled, while older groups experienced different education systems and labor markets. The tables offer a cross-sectional snapshot rather than following the same individuals over time.
Women recorded a higher bachelor’s-level share than men
Census reports that 38 percent of women age 18 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher as their highest attainment, compared with 34 percent of men. Ten percent of men and 8 percent of women had less than a high-school education. The remaining groups were high-school graduates or had some college or an associate’s degree.
The release also shows a strong connection between education and occupation without establishing that a degree alone causes a particular job outcome. Among employed civilians age 25 and older, 45 percent held a bachelor’s degree or higher, 49 percent had a high-school diploma through an associate’s degree and 6 percent had less than a high-school diploma or equivalent.
Bachelor’s-level attainment was reported for 77 percent of workers in professional and related occupations and 64 percent in management, business and financial occupations. High-school-through-associate attainment was most common in installation, maintenance and repair; transportation and material moving; and production occupations. These broad groups include jobs with very different training and licensing requirements.
Industry patterns add context but not individual predictions
The highest industry shares with bachelor’s degrees or more were information at 62 percent, educational and health services at 60 percent and financial activities at 60 percent. Transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, and construction had larger shares in the high-school-through-associate category. Industry is not the same as occupation: a hospital, for example, employs both clinicians and support workers.
Because the estimates are based on a survey sample, the technical documentation includes sampling and nonsampling error. Census says comparative statements in its release underwent statistical testing and, unless noted, were significant at the 10 percent level. More detailed tables allow readers to examine demographic groups rather than treating national averages as universal experiences.
The release can inform education and workforce planning, but it does not measure program quality, student debt, job satisfaction or return on tuition. Those questions require additional data. Readers comparing years should also use consistent definitions and source tables, since revisions in survey processing or category design can affect apparent changes.