Russel Sage Foundation

Based on data from the Current Population Survey, the percentage of the US population, age 25 to 60, with a High School Diploma increased dramatically during the first half of the century, but essentially flat-lined for birth cohorts after 1950. For birth cohorts from 1950 to the present, the percentage of both men and women in each birth cohort graduating from high school has hovered around or just below 90%. For bachelor’s degrees, the percentage of men rose steadily for birth cohorts prior to 1950, declined slightly and has held steady around 30% for birth cohorts since. For women, the percentage of each birth cohort graduating from college has risen steadily over the century with the proportion of women with a college degree now nearly 1 in 3.