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# How America’s Education Levels Changed From 1970 to 2023
- URL: https://dailyrivet.com/how-americas-education-levels-changed-from-1970-to-2023/
- Published: 2026-10-11T23:59:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-11T23:59:51.000Z
- Description: High-school attainment rose and college education became more common. Census and USDA data show how America and all 50 states changed from 1970 to 2019–2023.
- Author: Ryan
- Tags: By The Numbers

In the America of 1970, an adult who hadn’t finished high school was far from unusual. Nearly half the population age 25 and older fell into that category. Only about one in nine had completed four or more years of college.

To understand those numbers, think about who was being counted. An adult who was 25 in 1970 had been born in 1945; everyone older had grown up earlier still. The figures capture the schooling of several generations, including people whose education had ended decades before the Census asked about it.

By the 2019–2023 period, the country’s educational profile had changed considerably. Just 10.6% of adults were below high-school level, while 35% held a bachelor’s degree or higher. The four-year-college category, which had accounted for a small minority of adults in 1970, had become the largest of the four groups in USDA’s dataset.

Every state shared in that change. The size of the college gains, however, depended heavily on where you looked.

## A high-school education became much more common

The decline in adults below high-school level runs through the entire series. Their share fell from 47.7% in 1970 to 33.5% in 1980, then to 24.8% in 1990\. By 2000, it was below one in five.

That means most of the decline recorded across the full series had already occurred by the turn of the century. The share continued to fall, reaching 10.6% in the final period.

![U.S. education levels among adults age 25 and older, 1970 to 2019–2023: below high-school level fell from 47.7% to 10.6%, while four-year college or higher rose from 10.7% to 35.0%.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c9/ec/c9ec014c-a651-451c-83d1-b614edbd1640/content/images/2026/10/americas-education-national-change-1.webp)

| Period    | Below high school | High school only | Some college\* | Four-year college+\* |
| --------- | ----------------- | ---------------- | -------------- | -------------------- |
| 1970      | 47.7%             | 31.1%            | 10.6%          | 10.7%                |
| 1980      | 33.5%             | 34.6%            | 15.7%          | 16.2%                |
| 1990      | 24.8%             | 30.0%            | 24.9%          | 20.3%                |
| 2000      | 19.6%             | 28.6%            | 27.4%          | 24.4%                |
| 2008–2012 | 14.3%             | 28.2%            | 29.0%          | 28.5%                |
| 2019–2023 | 10.6%             | 26.2%            | 28.2%          | 35.0%                |

*Adults age 25 and older. In 1970 and 1980, the college categories mean one to three completed years and four or more completed years, regardless of degree earned. From 1990 onward, they mean some college or an associate degree, and a bachelor’s degree or higher. The final two observations are five-year estimates, not single-year snapshots. Rounding can make totals differ slightly from 100%.*

Over the same span, the adult population in this age group more than doubled, from about 109.9 million to 228.4 million. Yet the number below high-school level fell from 52.4 million to 24.2 million. The decline amounted to roughly 28 million people despite the much larger population being counted.

There were still 24.2 million adults in that group at the end. National progress had made their educational background less common, but hardly rare enough to disappear from the picture.

## What the college numbers leave out

College is where the change becomes especially visible. The number of adults in the four-year-college-or-higher category grew from approximately 11.7 million to 80 million. Its share of the population rose from 10.7% to 35%.

A bachelor’s degree had become much more common, but it remained a minority qualification. About 65% of adults did not hold one in 2019–2023.

![U.S. adults age 25 and older in 2019–2023: 35.0% held a bachelor’s degree or higher, 28.2% had some college or an associate degree, and 36.8% had no education beyond high school.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c9/ec/c9ec014c-a651-451c-83d1-b614edbd1640/content/images/2026/10/college-experience-vs-four-year-degree-readable.webp)

### U.S. educational attainment, 2019–2023

| Highest education attained          | Share of adults age 25 and older |
| ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher         | 35.0%                            |
| Some college or an associate degree | 28.2%                            |
| No education beyond high school     | 36.8%                            |

*The 36.8% combines high school only (26.2%) and below high-school level (10.6%). These are ACS five-year estimates. Source: USDA ERS, drawing on Census data. Figures are rounded to one decimal place.*

That larger group included many people who had continued their education after high school. Some had earned an associate degree; others had attended college without completing a degree. USDA combines those experiences into one category, which accounted for 28.2% of adults. Together with the bachelor’s-or-higher group, that puts the share with some education beyond high school at about 63.2%.

Describing all of them simply as “college educated” obscures a substantial difference in credentials. Conversely, dividing the country into college graduates and everyone else can make the latter group sound as though their education all ended at the same point.

The high-school-only figures deserve a closer look, too. That category’s share fell from 31.1% to 26.2%, even though the number of people in it increased from about 34.2 million to 59.8 million. A declining share does not necessarily mean a shrinking population. And someone who finished high school before going on to college is counted in a college category, so “high school only” tells us where education ended.

## The states improved at different speeds

South Carolina began the series with 62.2% of its adults below high-school level. By 2019–2023, that figure was 10.4%, the largest percentage-point decline among the 50 states.

It was one of 14 states where more than half of adults were below high-school level in 1970\. None remained above that threshold in the final period. All 50 states recorded a decline in that share, alongside an increase in the four-year-college-or-higher share.

Massachusetts recorded the largest college increase, from 12.6% to 46.6%. It also had the highest latest bachelor’s-or-higher estimate among the states, followed by Colorado at 44.7%.

![Map and ranked comparisons of college attainment in all 50 states, 1970 to 2019–2023. All states gained; Massachusetts had the highest latest bachelor’s-or-higher share at 46.6%, and West Virginia the lowest at 23.3%.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c9/ec/c9ec014c-a651-451c-83d1-b614edbd1640/content/images/2026/10/college-attainment-all-50-states-readable.webp)

For another view of American education over time, see [how America’s largest school districts changed over 30 years](https://dailyrivet.com/largest-school-districts-america-1993-vs-2023/).

### College attainment in all 50 states, 1970 to 2019–2023

| State          | 1970\* | 2019–2023\* | Gain (pp) |
| -------------- | ------ | ----------- | --------- |
| Massachusetts  | 12.6%  | 46.6%       | 34.0      |
| Colorado       | 14.9%  | 44.7%       | 29.8      |
| New Jersey     | 11.8%  | 42.9%       | 31.1      |
| Maryland       | 13.9%  | 42.7%       | 28.8      |
| Vermont        | 11.5%  | 42.6%       | 31.1      |
| Connecticut    | 13.7%  | 41.9%       | 28.2      |
| Virginia       | 12.3%  | 41.5%       | 29.2      |
| New Hampshire  | 10.9%  | 39.8%       | 28.9      |
| New York       | 11.9%  | 39.6%       | 27.7      |
| Minnesota      | 11.1%  | 38.8%       | 27.7      |
| Washington     | 12.7%  | 38.8%       | 26.1      |
| Rhode Island   | 9.4%   | 37.3%       | 27.9      |
| Illinois       | 10.3%  | 37.2%       | 26.9      |
| Utah           | 14.0%  | 36.9%       | 22.9      |
| California     | 13.4%  | 36.5%       | 23.1      |
| Oregon         | 11.8%  | 36.2%       | 24.4      |
| Hawaii         | 14.0%  | 35.5%       | 21.5      |
| Maine          | 8.4%   | 35.3%       | 26.9      |
| Delaware       | 13.1%  | 35.3%       | 22.2      |
| Kansas         | 11.4%  | 35.2%       | 23.8      |
| North Carolina | 8.5%   | 34.7%       | 26.2      |
| Montana        | 11.0%  | 34.5%       | 23.5      |
| Pennsylvania   | 8.7%   | 34.5%       | 25.8      |
| Georgia        | 9.2%   | 34.2%       | 25.0      |
| Nebraska       | 9.6%   | 34.1%       | 24.5      |
| Florida        | 10.3%  | 33.2%       | 22.9      |
| Texas          | 10.9%  | 33.1%       | 22.2      |
| Wisconsin      | 9.8%   | 32.8%       | 23.0      |
| Arizona        | 12.6%  | 32.6%       | 20.0      |
| North Dakota   | 8.4%   | 32.3%       | 23.9      |
| Missouri       | 9.0%   | 31.9%       | 22.9      |
| Michigan       | 9.4%   | 31.8%       | 22.4      |
| South Carolina | 9.0%   | 31.5%       | 22.5      |
| Alaska         | 14.1%  | 31.2%       | 17.1      |
| Idaho          | 10.0%  | 31.2%       | 21.2      |
| South Dakota   | 8.6%   | 31.1%       | 22.5      |
| Ohio           | 9.3%   | 30.9%       | 21.6      |
| Iowa           | 9.1%   | 30.9%       | 21.8      |
| Tennessee      | 7.9%   | 30.4%       | 22.5      |
| New Mexico     | 12.7%  | 30.2%       | 17.5      |
| Wyoming        | 11.8%  | 29.9%       | 18.1      |
| Indiana        | 8.3%   | 28.8%       | 20.5      |
| Oklahoma       | 10.0%  | 27.8%       | 17.8      |
| Alabama        | 7.8%   | 27.8%       | 20.0      |
| Nevada         | 10.8%  | 27.4%       | 16.6      |
| Kentucky       | 7.2%   | 27.0%       | 19.8      |
| Louisiana      | 9.0%   | 26.6%       | 17.6      |
| Arkansas       | 6.7%   | 25.1%       | 18.4      |
| Mississippi    | 8.1%   | 24.2%       | 16.1      |
| West Virginia  | 6.8%   | 23.3%       | 16.5      |

*pp = percentage points. Historical definitions are explained below.*

*Adults age 25 and older. All 50 states are ordered by their unrounded 2019–2023 estimates. The 1970 measure is four or more completed years of college, regardless of degree; the later measure is a bachelor’s degree or higher. The latest figures are ACS five-year estimates. Changes use unrounded source values and are rounded to one decimal place. Source: USDA ERS, drawing on Census data.*

West Virginia’s experience shows how much improvement could occur without closing the distance to the leading states. Its college share rose from 6.8% to 23.3%. That latest figure was still the lowest among the 50 states, and approximately half Massachusetts’ share.

The District of Columbia reached 63.6%. It belongs alongside the state comparisons as a separate example, given its status as a federal district and its much smaller geographic footprint.

### District of Columbia: a separate comparison

| Federal district     | 1970\* | 2019–2023\* | Gain (pp) |
| -------------------- | ------ | ----------- | --------- |
| District of Columbia | 17.8%  | 63.6%       | 45.8      |

*Adults age 25 and older. In 1970, the share reflects four or more completed years of college, regardless of degree; in 2019–2023, it reflects a bachelor’s degree or higher. pp = percentage points. D.C. is excluded from the 50-state ordering above. The latest figures are ACS five-year estimates. Source: USDA ERS, drawing on Census data.*

## The differences become sharper at county level

Pennsylvania’s bachelor’s-or-higher share, 34.5%, was close to the national figure. Within the state, the range was much wider.

Chester County reached 56.6% in 2019–2023, compared with 34.6% in Philadelphia County and 44.8% in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. All three had made large gains from their 1970 four-year-college shares: 17.1%, 6.8%, and 11.1%, respectively.

Someone looking only at Pennsylvania’s statewide figure would miss a gap of almost 22 percentage points between Chester County and Philadelphia. Elsewhere, Arlington County, Virginia, reached 77.1%, while Boulder County, Colorado, reached 63.9%.

These are measures of the adult residents living in each county. People can study in one place and settle in another, so a county’s attainment figures cannot serve as a scorecard for its schools. Nor does this dataset establish which policies or economic changes caused the gains.

The county comparisons do help explain why the national experience can feel unfamiliar locally. In Chester County, more than half of adults held at least a bachelor’s degree. Nationally, nearly two-thirds did not. Both descriptions are accurate; they refer to very different populations.

That is worth keeping in mind when talking about the education Americans “typically” have. Across the country, education beyond high school had become common by 2019–2023, but a bachelor’s degree remained one of several paths. The 28.2% with some college or an associate degree and the 26.2% whose education ended at high school together accounted for more than half the adult population.

## Sources and methodology

This article uses USDA Economic Research Service’s *Educational attainment for adults age 25 and older for the United States, States, and counties, 1970–2023*, downloaded October 9, 2026\. The source file is dated January 31, 2025\. It draws on the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 censuses and American Community Survey five-year estimates for 2008–2012 and 2019–2023.

The Census changed its questions in 1990 from years of schooling completed to credentials earned. Earlier high-school figures refer to completing the 12th grade; later figures include a diploma or equivalent, such as a GED. Earlier four-year-college figures do not necessarily indicate a degree awarded. These changes qualify comparisons across the full period.

The figures describe adult attainment, rather than the graduation rate of a school class, and do not follow the same individuals over time. State and county rankings use point estimates; the USDA file does not supply margins of error, so small differences should not be treated as statistically established rankings. National figures use the United States row, and state comparisons cover the 50 states, with DC treated separately. Counts and percentages are rounded for readability.

- [USDA education dataset and downloads](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/county-level-data-sets-download-data?ref=dailyrivet.com)
- [USDA education data documentation](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/documentation?ref=dailyrivet.com)
- [Census Bureau historical educational-attainment methodology](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2010/demo/educational-attainment-1940-2000.html?ref=dailyrivet.com)