A Half Century of Learning: State Trends in Educational Attainment, 1940 to 2000

Nicole Stoops, U.S. Census Bureau
Jennifer Cheeseman Day, U.S. Census Bureau
Claire Shook-Finucane
Jessica W. Davis, U. S. Census Bureau

Educational attainment increased dramatically during the second half of the 20th century for the entire nation and for all states; but not necessarily uniformly for all groups. Using the decennial censuses from 1940 to 2000, we have created tables showing the rates of educational attainment by race and Hispanic origin, sex, and age, for the nation and each state. We plan to use these historical tables to investigate national and state level trends in educational attainment. The national level analysis will show both the population with a high school diploma or more, and those with a bachelor's degree or more, by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin over the past 60 years. At the state level, we will also show high school and college attainment, displaying the variations among states in the rates of increase in education, and the relative changes among states among sex and race groups.