Educational attainment rate, completed Master's or equivalent in United States
United States: Educational attainment rate, completed Master's or equivalent was 15.8% in 2024. β² Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed Master's or equivalent in United States, 1994β2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent in United States stood at 15.8%. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.3% on the previous year and up 35.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent in United States peaked at 15.8% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 6.0%, in 1994.
That places United States 17th out of 78 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6.6% | 6.0% | 7.2% | 6 |
| 2000s | 8.7% | 7.4% | 9.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 11.9% | 10.2% | 13.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 15.1% | 14.5% | 15.8% | 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)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers, per capita 0.0053 units per person (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent in United States?
- Educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent in United States was 15.8% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 15.8% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.0% in 1994.
- How does United States rank for educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent?
- United States ranks 17th out of 78 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed master's or equivalent rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 35.8%. 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 Master's or equivalent education or higher, population 25+ years, female (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV Β· JSON β 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release