This indicator represents the extent to which the 18–24-year-old cohort earned a bachelor’s degree. The cohort 18–24 years old was chosen to approximate the age range of most students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Higher educational attainment gives people greater opportunities to work in better-paying jobs than are generally available to those with less education. Earning a bachelor’s degree also prepares them for advanced education. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded is an actual count provided by the National Center for Education Statistics and includes degrees from both public and private institutions. These values are reported by the state in which the school is located and include degrees awarded to both in-person and online students. Degree data reflect the location of the degree-granting institution, not the state where degree-earning students reside.

Estimates of the population ages 18–24 are provided by the Census Bureau based on the decennial census and are reported by the state of residence. Each year, the Census Bureau utilizes current data on births, deaths, and migration to calculate population change since the most recent decennial census and produces time-series estimates of population. Estimates for states with smaller populations are generally less precise than estimates for states with larger populations.

A high value for this indicator may suggest the successful provision of educational opportunity at this level. Student mobility after graduation is not accounted for, which may make this indicator less meaningful in predicting the qualifications of a state’s future workforce. A state’s value for this indicator may also be high when its higher education system draws a large percentage of out-of-state students, a situation that sometimes occurs in states with small resident populations and in the District of Columbia. Because these are estimates, small differences in the indicator value between states or across time generally are not meaningful. Estimates for states with smaller populations are generally less precise than estimates for states with larger populations.

Data sources: Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System; Census Bureau, Decennial Census and Population Estimates Program.