New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are now more than 5 million living African Americans who hold at least a four-year college degree. Some 21.2 percent of the African American population over 25 years now has at least a bachelor’s degree. For Whites over the age of 25, 34.5 percent of the population has obtained at least a bachelor’s degree.
For African Americans, 7.5 percent of the adult population has a graduate or professional degree. For Whites, 12.5 percent of the adult population holds an advanced degree.
Some 15.1 percent of Black adults do not have a high school diploma. This is more than twice the percentage for Whites.
If we break the figures down by gender, we find that 22.9 percent of African American women over the age of 25 are college educated compared to 19.2 percent of African American men. Some 8.5 percent of adult Black women have an advanced degree compared to 6.3 percent of Black men.
