Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent in United States
United States: Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent was 39.1% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed Bachelor's or equivalent in United States, 1994–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
United States recorded 39.1% for educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in 2024. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 1.2% on the previous year and up 22.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent in United States peaked at 39.1% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 22.5%, in 1994.
That places United States 7th out of 112 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 24.0% | 22.5% | 25.6% | 6 |
| 2000s | 27.9% | 25.9% | 29.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 32.4% | 30.0% | 36.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 37.6% | 35.0% | 39.1% | 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 39.1% 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 39.1% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 22.5% in 1994.
- How does United States rank for educational attainment rate, completed bachelor's or equivalent?
- United States ranks 7th out of 112 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 22.2%. 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, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release