Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent in United States
United States: Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent was 26.0% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent in United States, 2005–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in United States stood at 26.0%. That is the highest value across all 20 years on record.
That represents a change of up 3.9% on the previous year and up 27.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in United States peaked at 26.0% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 18.1%, in 2005.
That places United States 8th out of 84 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 20 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent in United States, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 18.1% | — |
| 2006 | 18.3% | +1.4% |
| 2007 | 18.6% | +1.6% |
| 2008 | 19.3% | +3.5% |
| 2009 | 19.4% | +0.7% |
| 2010 | 19.4% | +0.2% |
| 2011 | 19.7% | +1.6% |
| 2012 | 20.2% | +2.5% |
| 2013 | 19.3% | -4.8% |
| 2014 | 20.5% | +6.3% |
| 2015 | 20.6% | +0.4% |
| 2016 | 20.9% | +1.8% |
| 2017 | 22.1% | +5.6% |
| 2018 | 20.9% | -5.6% |
| 2019 | 23.1% | +10.7% |
| 2020 | 23.0% | -0.6% |
| 2021 | 24.3% | +5.5% |
| 2022 | 23.2% | -4.3% |
| 2023 | 25.1% | +8.0% |
| 2024 | 26.0% | +3.9% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 18.7% | 18.1% | 19.4% | 5 |
| 2010s | 20.7% | 19.3% | 23.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 24.3% | 23.0% | 26.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States
More education data for United States
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 1.78 million (2023)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Primary secondary enrollment completion rates, gaps filled 96.97 (2022)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in United States?
- Educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in United States was 26.0% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 26.0% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 18.1% in 2005.
- How does United States rank for educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent?
- United States ranks 8th out of 84 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 27.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent education or higher, population 25+ years, rural, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 20 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release