Educational Attainment

Decennial Census Data on Educational Attainment

Information on the educational attainment of the U.S. population has been collected in every decennial census from 1940 to 2000. In 1940, educational attainment was collected for every person enumerated in the census (i.e., 100% data) and on a sample basis thereafter.

DATA TABLES, PRODUCTS AND REPORTS

Census 2000

A Half-Century Of Learning: Historical Census Statistics On Educational Attainment in the United States, 1940 to 2000

• Introduction
• Detailed Tables
• Graphs
• Sources

Educational Attainment: 2000

• Report (C2KBR-24) [PDF – 498k]

Education and School Enrollment: 2000

• Detailed Tables

1990 Census

We the Americans…Our Education

• Report [PDF – 254k]

1990 Census of Population: Education in the United States

• Report (CP-3-4) [PDF – 9.0M]

1970 Census

Educational Attainment by Age, Sex, and Race for the United States: 1970

• Report [PDF – 3.2M]
• Table: Years of School Completed by Persons 14 Years Old and Over, by Race, Sex and Age [PDF – 1.0M]

Educational Characteristics of the Population of the United States: 1970

• Report [PDF – 308k]
• Table: Educational Characteristics by Size of Place [PDF – 149k]

1960 Census

Educational Attainment of the Population of the United States: 1960

• Report (PC(S1)-37) [PDF – 227k]
• Detailed Tables

School Enrollment and Educational Attainment, for the United States: 1960

• Report (PC(S1)-20) [PDF – 576k]
• Detailed Tables

1940 Census

Educational Attainment by Wage or Salary Income: 1940

• Report (P46-5) [PDF – 724k]
• Detailed Tables

Educational Characteristics of the Population of the United States By Age: 1940

• Report (P19-4) [PDF – 1.7M]
• Detailed Tables

Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years Old And Over In The United States: 1940

• Report (P10-8) [PDF – 1.1M]
• Detailed Tables

RELATED PAPERS AND PRESENTATION

The Earnings Gap by Occupation and Educational Attainment: Findings from Census 2000. Jennifer Cheeseman Day, Nikki Graf and Kurt Bauman. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Minneapolis, Minn., May 1-3, 2003

• Paper [DOC – 844k]
• Presentation [PPT - 430k]

AVAILABLE TABULATIONS

Decennial census tables on educational attainment are available from American FactFinder for 1990 and 2000.

Tabulations from the most recent and historical censuses are also available from the Census of Population and Housing Publications Web site.