The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the American Community Survey (ACS) showing notable increases in educational attainment among adults in metropolitan and micropolitan areas over the past five years. According to the ACS 5-year estimates for 2020-2024, 37.8% of adults age 25 and older in metropolitan statistical areas have a bachelor’s degree or higher, up from 34.2% during the 2015-2019 period.
“Over the last five years, we’ve noticed a significant increase in the percentage of adults completing higher education,” said Erik Hernandez, a Census Bureau statistician. “Approximately 89% of metro areas experienced an increase in the percentage of population 25 years and over with a bachelor’s degree or higher when compared to the 2015-2019 period.”
Among metropolitan areas, Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina saw one of the largest increases in adults with at least a bachelor’s degree, rising from 45.3% to 53.4%. Springfield, Massachusetts was the only metro area reporting a decline in educational attainment for this group, dropping from 32.8% to 29.3%.
In micropolitan statistical areas, about half showed an increase in educational attainment for those aged 25 and over with at least a bachelor’s degree. Taos, New Mexico had one of the most substantial gains within micro areas, increasing by nearly ten percentage points.
Field-specific changes were also noted: The Gadsden, Alabama metro area recorded one of the largest rises among college graduates with degrees in education; Enid, Oklahoma led increases for science and engineering graduates; Carson City, Nevada saw significant growth among arts and humanities graduates.
The ACS offers detailed statistics on people and housing across more than forty topics at local levels. The latest release allows comparisons across four nonoverlapping five-year periods dating back to 2005.
Nationally, median household income for the United States was $80,734 during the latest period—a rise of about four percent after adjusting for inflation since the previous cycle. However, this change was not uniform across counties; most did not see statistically significant shifts while some counties saw either increases or decreases.
Poverty rates also declined nationally—from 13.4% to 12.5%. Of note is that poverty decreased among children under eighteen in many counties but increased among those age sixty-five and older in most counties examined.
Access to technology improved as well: all metro areas reported an uptick in households with broadband internet subscriptions between survey periods except two micro areas that experienced declines—Greenville, Mississippi having one of them.
Other findings include an overall increase in households among large cities such as New York City and Los Angeles since ACS tracking began and rising shares of never-married men and women in populous places like Houston.
For additional details on ACS data topics or access to comprehensive statistics released today visit https://data.census.gov/. Guidance on comparing estimates over time is available on their comparison guidance page https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/comparing-acs-data.html.
“Approximately 89% of metro areas experienced an increase in the percentage of population 25 years and over with a bachelor’s degree or higher when compared to the 2015-2019 period.” – Erik Hernandez
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