Back to Data Tables
Excel icon Download to excel

Table 1-4b. Ethnicity and race of U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate students in science: 2000–2018

Year Total U.S. citizens and permanent residents
Hispanic or Latino Not Hispanic or Latino Unknown ethnicity and race
American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Black or African American Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander White More than one race
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
2000 234,000 14,185 6.1 1,394 0.6 16,839 7.2 17,857 7.6 945 0.4 166,486 71.1 399 0.2 15,895 6.8
2001 237,718 14,791 6.2 1,456 0.6 17,698 7.4 18,540 7.8 870 0.4 167,559 70.5 429 0.2 16,375 6.9
2002 247,842 16,173 6.5 1,490 0.6 19,160 7.7 19,594 7.9 770 0.3 172,576 69.6 330 0.1 17,749 7.2
2003 259,871 17,262 6.6 1,575 0.6 20,280 7.8 20,962 8.1 819 0.3 179,205 69.0 357 0.1 19,411 7.5
2004 265,643 18,048 6.8 1,575 0.6 20,007 7.5 21,225 8.0 926 0.3 181,615 68.4 437 0.2 21,810 8.2
2005 271,962 19,297 7.1 1,685 0.6 19,952 7.3 21,778 8.0 892 0.3 182,908 67.3 454 0.2 24,996 9.2
2006 275,905 19,759 7.2 1,822 0.7 20,182 7.3 22,092 8.0 818 0.3 184,700 66.9 448 0.2 26,084 9.5
2007olda 282,785 20,515 7.3 1,882 0.7 20,818 7.4 22,881 8.1 946 0.3 187,292 66.2 457 0.2 27,994 9.9
2007newa 293,792 21,176 7.2 1,972 0.7 21,261 7.2 23,862 8.1 998 0.3 194,875 66.3 464 0.2 29,184 9.9
2008 295,530 21,382 7.2 2,272 0.8 20,808 7.0 24,694 8.4 965 0.3 195,037 66.0 1,147 0.4 29,225 9.9
2009 303,700 22,047 7.3 2,205 0.7 21,976 7.2 25,801 8.5 976 0.3 200,047 65.9 1,950 0.6 28,698 9.4
2010 308,108 22,969 7.5 2,171 0.7 21,915 7.1 26,914 8.7 914 0.3 202,386 65.7 3,987 1.3 26,852 8.7
2011 312,846 24,889 8.0 2,075 0.7 23,000 7.4 28,129 9.0 842 0.3 205,437 65.7 4,865 1.6 23,609 7.5
2012 308,042 25,371 8.2 1,910 0.6 22,878 7.4 27,414 8.9 781 0.3 201,326 65.4 6,071 2.0 22,291 7.2
2013 305,563 26,585 8.7 1,939 0.6 23,108 7.6 27,199 8.9 752 0.2 198,105 64.8 6,575 2.2 21,300 7.0
2014oldb 300,110 26,941 9.0 1,763 0.6 23,335 7.8 26,083 8.7 758 0.3 193,589 64.5 7,512 2.5 20,129 6.7
2014newb 308,499 28,605 9.3 1,826 0.6 24,039 7.8 26,768 8.7 784 0.3 198,185 64.2 7,697 2.5 20,595 6.7
2015 309,182 30,891 10.0 1,742 0.6 25,044 8.1 27,019 8.7 789 0.3 195,761 63.3 8,285 2.7 19,651 6.4
2016 306,710 32,616 10.6 1,615 0.5 25,772 8.4 26,890 8.8 747 0.2 191,941 62.6 8,690 2.8 18,439 6.0
2017oldc 310,973 34,199 11.0 1,559 0.5 27,541 8.9 27,550 8.9 621 0.2 191,298 61.5 10,280 3.3 17,925 5.8
2017newc 281,057 30,383 10.8 1,347 0.5 26,028 9.3 22,557 8.0 487 0.2 174,801 62.2 9,434 3.4 16,020 5.7
2018 297,277 33,894 11.4 1,403 0.5 28,425 9.6 24,844 8.4 531 0.2 180,735 60.8 10,346 3.5 17,099 5.8
Master's students
2017newc 156,831 18,728 11.9 777 0.5 15,084 9.6 15,639 10.0 305 0.2 91,511 58.4 5,202 3.3 9,585 6.1
2018 171,049 21,203 12.4 823 0.5 16,933 9.9 17,560 10.3 350 0.2 97,081 56.8 5,915 3.5 11,184 6.5
Doctoral students
2017newc 124,226 11,655 9.4 570 0.5 10,944 8.8 6,918 5.6 182 0.1 83,290 67.0 4,232 3.4 6,435 5.2
2018 126,228 12,691 10.1 580 0.5 11,492 9.1 7,284 5.8 181 0.1 83,654 66.3 4,431 3.5 5,915 4.7
a In 2007, eligible fields were reclassified, newly eligible fields were added, and the survey was redesigned to improve coverage and coding of eligible units. "2007new" presents data as collected in 2007; "2007old" shows data as they would have been collected in prior years. See appendix A in https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
b In 2014, the survey frame was updated following a comprehensive frame evaluation study. The study identified potentially eligible but not previously surveyed academic institutions in the United States with master's- or doctorate-granting programs in science, engineering, or health. A total of 151 newly eligible institutions were added, and two private for-profit institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible. For more information, see https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsf16314.
c As part of 2017 GSS redesign, the GSS taxonomy was changed to align with the NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines (TOD), thus increasing comparability with other NCSES surveys. As a result, some eligible fields were reclassified and a small number of fields became fully or partially ineligible. Comparisons to prior years should use the 2017old estimates and should be limited to broad areas of study—detailed field comparisons are not recommended.
NOTES: Percentages may not add to total because of rounding. Master's and doctoral students were not reported separately until 2017. Ethnicity and race data are available only for U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.