U.S. higher education enrollment rates, by age group 1970-2020

Published by
Veera Korhonen,
Jul 5, 2024
Of those aged 20 to 21 years of age in the United States, 52.8 percent were enrolled in higher education as of 2020, a considerable increase when compared to 31.9 percent in 1970. For those aged 18 to 19, 49 percent were enrolled in higher education in 2020.

Share of adult population enrolled in college or other higher education in the United States from 1970 to 2020, by age group

CharacteristicAges 18 to 19Ages 20 to 21Ages 22 to 24Ages 25 to 29Ages 30 to 34
'20 49% 52.8% 26.6% 10.5% 5.8%
'19 48.2% 53.5% 28.6% 11% 6%
'18 50.5% 54.6% 28% 12.7% 6.3%
'17 48% 55% 28.4% 12.1% 5.9%
'16 50.5% 55.5% 28.8% 13.2% 6.4%
'15 48.8% 53.3% 28.8% 13.2% 6.6%
'14 48.9% 51.4% 29.6% 13.1% 6.4%
'13 46.6% 52.8% 29.7% 13.3% 6.7%
'12 47.3% 54% 30.7% 14% 7.5%
'11 50.1% 52.7% 31.1% 14.8% 7.7%
'10 51.2% 52.4% 28.9% 14.6% 8.3%
'09 49.8% 51.7% 30.4% 13.5% 8.1%
'08 48.6% 50.1% 28.2% 13.2% 7.3%
Showing entries 1 to 13 (32 entries in total)
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2Share of populationAges 18 to 19Ages 20 to 21Ages 22 to 24Ages 25 to 29Ages 30 to 34'70'72'74'76'78'80'82'84'86'88'90'92'94'96'98'00'02'04'06'08'09'10'11'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%

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Release date

June 2022

Region

United States

Survey time period

1970 to 2020

Age group

18 to 34 years old

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