Population Research Institute Social Science Research Institute Penn State

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007

Posted February 13th, 2009 by Tara Murray in ACS, CPS, Education, Migration, Race & Ethnicity, US Demography

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 (PDF, from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Reports) uses data from the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey.

Among the findings:

  • A larger proportion of women than men had completed high school or more education. A larger proportion of men had received at least a bachelor’s degree.
  • Differences in educational attainment by race and Hispanic origin existed. Attainment for non-Hispanic Whites and Asians was higher than attainment for Blacks and Hispanics. (Hispanics may be any race.)
  • Educational attainment varied by nativity. About 88 percent of the native-born population had at least a high school diploma, compared to 68 percent of the foreign-born population. More native-born than foreign-born adults reported completing at least a bachelor’s degree (28 percent and 27 percent, respectively), while more foreign-born than nativeborn adults reported having an advanced degree (11 percent and 10 percent, respectively).
  • Educational attainment of foreign-born Hispanics was lower than all other groups. The percentage of foreign-born Hispanics who had completed at least high school was 49 percent, which is the same as the percentage of foreign-born Asians who had completed college or more education.

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