A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau offers a detailed look at educational attainment in the United States. The data shows that in 2013, of the 24,371,000 living African Americans 25 years or older, 5,305,000 had at least a four-year college degree. Thus, 21.7 percent of all African American adults had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree.
Another 9.8 percent of the adult Black population had earned a two-year associate’s degree but no higher degree.
Blacks have made tremendous progress in degree attainments, but a significant racial gap remains. More than 35 percent of non-Hispanic Whites over the age of 25 in 2013 had a four-year college degree.
Nearly 1.5 million, more than 6 percent of adult African Americans, held a master’s degree but no higher degree in 2013. For non-Hispanic Whites the figure was 9.5 percent.
The data shows that 174,000 African Americans in 2013 held a professional degree and 192,000 had obtained a doctorate. Whites are about twice as likely as Blacks to hold professional or doctoral degrees.
