The State of Education

Visualizing the percentage of individuals ages 25 or older who have a bachelor's degree or higher in all 3,000 + U.S. Counties

It's no secret that educational attainment is highly correlated with income. Data shows that individuals who earn a college degree typically earn tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars more throughout their lifetime than those without degrees.

So, what percentage of Americans decide to pursue higher education in the form of a bachelor's, master's, professional, or doctoral degree? According to the 2012 - 2016 American Community Survey, 30.3% of all Americans ages 25 or older have a bachelor's degree or higher.

This percentage varies from county to county across the U.S., ranging from 3% in Loving County, Texas all the way up to 80.2% in Falls Church City, Virginia.

To get a better idea of how this percentage varies across the U.S., check out the map below that shows the percentage of individuals ages 25 or older who have a bachelor's degree or higher in all 3,000+ U.S. counties.

How Does Your County Compare?

24.6% of individuals ages 25 or older in have a bachelor's degree or higher.

This is 5.7 percent lower than the national average.

Technical notes: This map was created using D3.js, a javascript library for producing visualizations. Code for this visual is based on this D3.js Block by Mike Bostock.