New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 23.9 percent of African American adults have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. Here is a summary of the data on degree attainment among African Americans broken down by gender.
In 2017, 22.1 percent of African American men over the age of 25 had earned at least a bachelor’s degree. For African American women over the age of 25, 25.4 percent had earned at least a bachelor’s degree.
Black women hold a huge lead in master’s degrees. In 2017, there were 1,185,000 Black women who held a master’s degree but no higher degree. For Black men, the figure was 660,000.
Black women now also hold an advantage in professional degree awards. In 2017, there were 127,000 African American women with a professional degree compared to 64,000 Black men.
Black women now hold a edge in doctoral degrees. In 2014, 109,000 living African American men had a doctoral degree. For Black women the figures was 98,000. Now there are 161,000 Black women with a doctoral degree, compared to only 135,000 Black men.
The data tables from Educational Attainment in the United States: 2017, may be downloaded here.
