In Burlington Area, Share Of College Grads Increases

BURLINGTON, VT — The proportion of Americans who hold a bachelor's or graduate degree is at its highest level ever, but the growth in that share varies widely from one part of the country to another.

Nearly a third of U.S. residents 25 and older — 32.1 percent — hold at least a bachelor's degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey covering the five-year period ending in 2019. That's up from 27.5 percent in the five-year period ending in 2009.

In Chittenden County, an estimated 51.3 percent of residents 25 and older held a bachelor’s or graduate degree between 2015 and 2019. That’s an increase from 2010-2014, when an estimated 48.0 percent of residents 25 and older held such a degree.

Vermont experienced an increase of 2.8 percentage points for residents who held at least a bachelor’s degree between the two periods — an estimated 38.0 percent of people held one between 2015 and 2019 compared with 35.2 percent between 2010 and 2014.

The median income for the holder of a bachelor’s degree in Vermont was $44,606 (adjusted to 2019 dollars), while high school graduates earned $32,404, according to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey.

The most rapid growth in the share of residents with four-year degrees occurred in counties that were already above the national average. These counties experienced a 3.8 percentage point increase between 2005-2009 and 2015-2019, while those below average experienced a 3 percentage point increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Black and Hispanic people 25 and older across the country reported a larger increase in attainment of bachelor's or graduate degrees than did white and Asian people between 2010 and 2019, but there are still large differences between the races and ethnicities.

The number of Black survey respondents who hold a bachelor's degree or higher rose by 25.4 percent nationally from 2005-2009 to 2015-2019. The number of Hispanic survey respondents who said the same grew by 30.3 percent, while the number of white respondents increased by 17.2 percent and Asian respondents by 9.5 percent.

An estimated 35.8 percent of non-Hispanic white people 25 and older held a bachelor's or graduate degree by 2019, compared with 21.6 percent of the Black population, 54.3 percent of the Asian population and 16.4 percent of the Hispanic or Latino population of any race, according to the Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the American Community Survey annually to collect demographic and other information about the U.S. population between the well-known decennial census counts. Around 3.5 million letters are sent each month to U.S. households suggesting that people respond online, by mail, on the phone or in person.

Results are published annually but are also combined into five-year roll-ups; the latter are considered more accurate because they have a larger sample size and a lower margin of error. Between 1.9 million and 2.37 million final interviews were conducted annually for the American Community Survey from 2005 to 2019.

The survey's margin of error varies. For national results, it is plus or minus 0.1 percentage points. For state-level results, it ranges from plus or minus 0.2 to 0.5 percentage points, depending on the size of the state sample. And for results among demographic groups, including race, it is plus or minus 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points. For more than 90 percent of U.S. counties, the margin of error ranges from 0.2 to 3.5 percentage points, again depending on the size of the county.

The states with the largest estimated percentage of residents 25 and older who hold a bachelor's degree or higher between 2015 and 2019 are:

1. Massachusetts: 43.7 percent
2. Colorado: 40.9 percent
3. Maryland: 40.2 percent
4. New Jersey: 39.7 percent
5. Connecticut: 39.3 percent
6. Virginia: 38.8 percent
7. Vermont: 38 percent
8. New Hampshire: 37 percent
9. New York: 36.6 percent
10. Minnesota: 36.1 percent

Editor’s note: This post was automatically generated using data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Please report any errors or other feedback to [email protected].