Educational attainment in the United States, 1940-2009

In the United States, the level of education of the adult population has increased steadily since the middle of the 20th century. The share of the population 25 years and over who attended college increased from 10 percent in 1940 to 56 percent in 2009. 30 percent of the population in this age group had completed 4 or more years of college in 2009. The share of the population with only elementary education or no formal schooling fell from 60 percent in 1940 to 6 percent in 2009. High school reached its peak as the most common level of education in the 1970s and 1980s, with a share around 50 percent, but younger cohorts are more likely to continue their education at the post-secondary level.

This increase in educational attainment of the work force has contributed to a strengthening of U.S. competitiveness in the global economy. At the same time, the increased demand for highly skilled workers emphasizes the importance of secondary and higher education for individuals in search of employment.

The trends in years of schooling of the adult U.S. population from 1940 to 2009 are visualized in the figure below. The table that follows lists data for selected years. The data on educational attainment were collected with the Current Population Survey (CPS), a joint survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau that has been conducted since 1940.

Years of school completed by population 25 years and over, 1940-2009

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010

Years of school completed by population 25 years and over, 1940-2009

Years of school	Percent of population
	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2009
0 to 4 years elementary school	13.5	10.8	8.3	5.3	3.4	2.4	1.6	1.4
5 to 8 years elementary school	46.0	36.1	31.4	22.4	14.1	8.8	5.4	4.1
1 to 3 years high school	15.0	16.9	19.2	17.1	13.9	11.2	8.9	7.9
4 years high school	14.1	20.1	24.6	34.0	36.8	38.4	33.1	31.1
1 to 3 years college	5.4	7.1	8.8	10.2	14.9	17.9	25.4	26.1
4 or more years college	4.6	6.0	7.7	11.0	17.0	21.3	25.6	29.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010

Data source

• U.S. Census Bureau, CPS historical time series tables, September 2010, Table A-1, "Years of school completed by people 25 years and over, by age and sex: Selected years 1940 to 2009" (Excel file, 85 kB; CSV file, 47 kB)

Related articles

• Poverty and educational attainment in the United States
• Poverty and educational attainment in the United States, part 2
• Achievement gap between black and white students in the United States
• Educational attainment in Brazil since 1920
• Educational attainment in India, 1950-2000
• Educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa
• Household wealth and years of education
• National wealth and years of education

External links

• U.S. Census Bureau
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Current Population Survey (CPS)
• CPS data on educational attainment
• CPS historical time series data

Friedrich Huebler, 3 January 2011, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/01/usa.html