{"id":20103,"date":"2020-10-01T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tamus.edu\/data-science\/?p=20103"},"modified":"2025-09-15T21:20:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:20:53","slug":"exploring-the-some-college-no-bachelors-degree-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tamus.edu\/data-science\/2020\/10\/01\/exploring-the-some-college-no-bachelors-degree-population\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the “Some college, no bachelors degree” population"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Exploring the “Some college, no bachelors degree” population<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

While most of us are familiar with the 10-year cycle of census-taking, many may not be aware that the US Census Bureau also conducts annual sampling of the US population in order to track shifts in population trends in-between the decennial accounting of\u00a0Americans.\u00a0The\u00a0American Community Survey (ACS)\u00a0data include an array of variables, from household descriptors to earnings and income to level of educational attainment,<\/span>\u00a0publishing<\/span>\u00a0data in t<\/span>wo forms: one-year estimates and five-year estimates.\u00a0<\/span>One of the benefits of the ACS data is its granularity. Many of the data points of interest are disaggregated by a combination of sex, age, and race\/ethnicity categories. Geography is also a key element of the ACS data, as much of the five-year data are available at the most fine-grain level of a census block and are scaled up to nation-wide data, with various levels-of-detail in-between (<\/span>ACS Concepts and Definitions<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

ACS Educational Attainment Data<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Of particular interest for higher education stakeholders is the level of educational attainment of the population that colleges and universities serve. Businesses looking to develop a new entity or expand an existing one into a certain geographic location can utilize educational attainment data to determine whether an area is a viable option for them. Institutions of higher education may evaluate educational attainment data to determine areas where they should target enrollment initiatives, expand marketing and publicity campaigns, or add satellite campuses and programs.\u00a0<\/p>

A fantastic example of a data product that has been created with the ACS data is the <\/span>Educational Attainment in America<\/a> website developed by <\/span>Dr. Kyle Walker<\/a>\u00a0at TCU’s <\/span>Center for Urban Studies<\/a>. Although the data used\u00a0<\/span>(ACS 5-year data from 2011-2015)\u00a0<\/span>to create the geospatial visualizations is not the most recently available data, the website allows an end-user to explore visually and numerically the educational attainment of adults 25 years of age and older within\u00a0a geographic area of interest. The screenshot below shows the educational attainment, indicated by the colors of the dots, of the northern Texas\/Metroplex region. Clicking on the image will open the full, interaction version of the website.\u00a0A word of caution<\/i>: once you engage with the content of Dr. Walker’s site, you may fail to notice the\u00a0 minutes flying by as you bounce from one “I wonder about…?” question to the next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

National Trends in Educational Attainment<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

As shown in the top-left corner of the image above, the ACS data are reported in varying levels of educational attainment. Although the legend above shows five categories, the raw ACS data delineates 24 different levels of educational attainment ranging from “No schooling completed” to “Doctorate degree.” Having data reported at such a granular level allows an analyst the freedom to aggregate data into larger groupings as needed.<\/p>

To get a sense of the distribution of highest level of education achieved across the United States, the visualization from the US Census Bureau’s Data Center<\/a> below shows the percentage of adults (25-years-old or older) in the broad categories from high school diploma or equivalent through graduate\/professional degree as a portion of the 25-years-old or older population. Based on the 2019 ACS estimates, approximately 89 percent of adults have at least a high school diploma. This figure can be calculated by adding the percentages of each bar together. The data also show that approximately 33 percent of adults 25 and older have earned a bachelors degree or higher across the United States. By comparison, the percentage of adults with at least a high school diploma in Texas is approximately 83 percent, while over 36 percent of the 25 and older population in Texas have earned a bachelors degree or higher.\u00a0<\/p>

NOTE<\/b>: In the figure below, the US Census Bureau did not include the approximately 11 percent of the adult population (25 or older) in the US who do not have a high school diploma. Therefore, the five values included in the bar chart below do not equal 100 percent if you add just the included categories together.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t