Year

Rank

Trending

% of population with high school degrees or higher

U.S. Average

North Carolina

Educational Attainment

Percentage of Working Age Population With a Bachelor’s Degrees or Higher

What does this mean?

Educational attainment refers to the percentage of the population, ages 25 years and older, who possess a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Why does this matter?

Post-secondary educational attainment helps workers secure jobs with higher than average wages. A well-educated and trained workforce is also attractive to businesses wanting to expand or relocate.

NC Education Index

North Carolina Ranking

24 / 51

Source: US Census Bureau

Educational Attainment

State	2010-01	2011-01	2012-01	2013-01	2014-01	2015-01	2016-01	2017-01	2018-01
Alabama	30.10	22.30	23.30	23.50	23.50	24.20	24.70	25.50	25.50
Alaska	21.90	26.40	28.00	28.00	28.00	29.70	29.60	28.80	30.20
Arizona	27.90	26.60	27.30	27.40	27.60	27.70	28.90	29.40	29.70
Arkansas	25.90	20.30	21.00	20.60	21.40	21.80	22.40	23.40	23.30
California	19.50	30.30	30.90	31.00	31.70	32.30	32.90	33.60	34.20
Colorado	36.40	36.70	37.50	37.80	38.30	39.20	39.90	41.20	41.70
Connecticut	35.50	36.20	37.10	37.20	38.00	38.30	38.60	38.70	39.60
Delaware	27.80	28.80	29.50	29.80	30.60	30.90	31.00	31.50	31.30
District of Columbia	50.10	52.50	53.00	55.10	55.00	56.70	56.80	57.30	60.40
Florida	25.80	25.80	26.80	27.20	27.30	28.40	28.60	29.70	30.40
Georgia	27.30	27.60	28.20	28.30	29.10	29.90	30.50	30.90	31.90
Hawaii	29.50	29.10	30.10	31.20	31.00	31.40	31.90	32.90	33.50
Idaho	24.40	25.20	25.50	26.20	25.00	26.00	27.60	26.80	27.70
Illinois	30.80	31.00	31.60	32.10	32.80	32.90	34.00	34.40	35.10
Indiana	20.50	23.00	23.40	23.80	24.70	24.90	25.60	26.80	27.10
Iowa	22.70	25.80	26.30	26.40	27.70	26.80	28.40	28.90	29.00
Kansas	24.90	30.10	30.40	31.10	31.50	31.70	32.80	33.70	33.80
Kentucky	29.80	21.10	21.80	22.60	22.20	23.30	23.40	24.00	24.80
Louisiana	21.40	21.10	22.00	22.50	22.90	23.20	23.40	23.80	24.30
Maine	26.80	28.40	28.00	28.20	29.40	30.10	30.10	32.10	31.50
Maryland	36.10	36.90	36.90	37.40	38.20	38.80	39.30	39.70	40.80
Massachusetts	39.00	39.10	39.30	40.30	41.20	41.50	42.70	43.40	44.50
Michigan	25.20	25.60	26.00	26.90	27.40	27.80	28.30	29.10	29.60
Minnesota	31.80	32.40	33.20	33.50	34.30	34.70	34.80	36.10	36.70
Mississippi	19.50	19.80	20.70	20.40	21.10	20.80	21.80	21.90	23.20
Missouri	25.60	26.10	26.40	27.00	27.50	27.80	28.50	29.10	29.50
Montana	28.80	28.20	29.40	29.00	29.30	30.60	31.00	32.30	31.70
Nebraska	28.60	27.90	29.00	29.40	29.50	30.20	31.40	31.70	32.40
Nevada	21.70	22.50	22.40	22.50	23.10	23.60	23.50	24.90	24.90
New Hampshire	32.80	33.40	34.60	34.60	35.00	35.70	36.60	36.90	36.80
New Jersey	35.40	35.30	36.20	36.60	37.40	37.60	38.60	39.70	40.80
New Mexico	25.00	25.60	26.10	26.40	26.40	26.50	27.20	27.10	27.70
New York	32.50	32.90	33.40	34.10	34.50	35.00	35.70	36.00	37.20
North Carolina	26.50	26.90	27.40	28.40	28.70	29.40	30.40	31.30	31.90
North Dakota	27.60	26.30	27.90	27.10	27.40	29.10	29.60	30.70	29.70
Ohio	24.60	24.70	25.20	26.10	26.60	26.80	27.50	28.00	29.00
Oklahoma	22.90	23.80	23.80	23.80	24.20	24.60	25.20	25.50	25.60
Oregon	28.80	29.30	29.90	30.70	30.80	32.20	32.70	33.70	34.00
Pennsylvania	27.10	27.00	27.80	28.70	29.00	29.70	30.80	31.40	31.80
Rhode Island	30.20	31.10	31.40	32.40	30.40	32.70	34.10	25.70	26.70
South Carolina	24.50	24.10	25.10	26.10	26.30	26.80	27.20	33.50	34.40
South Dakota	26.30	26.30	26.30	26.60	27.80	27.50	28.90	28.00	28.30
Tennessee	23.10	23.60	24.30	24.80	25.30	25.70	26.10	28.10	29.20
Texas	25.90	26.40	26.70	27.50	27.80	28.40	28.90	27.30	27.50
Utah	33.60	35.40	35.80	35.70	34.90	36.90	36.40	34.60	34.90
Vermont	34.20	35.10	35.50	36.10	36.70	37.00	38.10	38.30	38.70
Virginia	31.10	31.90	31.70	32.70	33.10	34.20	35.10	38.70	39.30
Washington	17.50	18.50	18.60	18.90	19.20	19.60	20.80	35.50	36.70
West Virginia	26.30	26.50	27.10	27.70	28.40	28.40	29.50	20.20	21.30
Wisconsin	24.10	24.70	24.70	26.60	26.60	26.20	27.10	30.40	30.00
Wyoming	24.10	24.70	24.70	26.60	26.60	26.20	27.10	27.60	34.90
U.S. Average	27.83	28.24	28.81	29.31	29.65	30.22	30.90	31.56	32.25