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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 10. Number of persons age 18 and over who hold a bachelor's or higher degree, by field of study, sex, race/ethnicity, and age: 1996 [Numbers in thousands]

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                     |        |      Sex       |    Race/ethnicity       |             Age
           Field of study            | Total  |________________|_________________________|________________________________
                                     |        |       |        | White, |       |        |18 to 29 |30 to 49 |  50 years
                                     |        | Males |Females |Non-His-| Black |Hispanic|years old|years old|old and over
                                     |        |       |        | panic  |       |        |         |         |
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
                  1                  |   2    |   3   |   4    |   5    |   6   |   7    |    8    |    9    |     10
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
      Total population, 18 and over .|196,121 |94,092 |102,029 |148,397 |22,813 | 18,081 |  43,775 |  83,107 |     69,238
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
  Number of persons with bachelor's  |        |       |        |        |       |        |         |         |
    or higher degree ................| 40,543 |21,084 | 19,459 | 34,090 | 2,640 |  1,515 |   6,787 |  21,976 |     11,780
  Percent of population .............|   20.7 |  22.4 |   19.1 |   23.0 |  11.6 |    8.4 |    15.5 |    26.4 |       17.0
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
Agriculture  ........................|    484 |   421 |     63 |    414 |    18 |     27 |      51 |     276 |        156
Architecture ........................|  1,118 |   490 |    627 |    960 |    27 |     50 |     236 |     601 |        281
Business ............................|  8,019 | 5,241 |  2,778 |  6,726 |   606 |    286 |   1,333 |   4,790 |      1,897
Communications ......................|    895 |   452 |    443 |    773 |    56 |     39 |     281 |     514 |        100
Computer ............................|    913 |   621 |    292 |    704 |    91 |     41 |     172 |     659 |         83
Education ...........................|  6,785 | 1,737 |  5,049 |  5,806 |   553 |    281 |     701 |   3,315 |      2,768
Engineering .........................|  2,913 | 2,656 |    256 |  2,452 |    74 |     61 |     425 |   1,480 |      1,009
Literature ..........................|  1,093 |   315 |    777 |    955 |    46 |     46 |     231 |     491 |        370
Foreign language ....................|    297 |    79 |    218 |    246 |    11 |     18 |      56 |     126 |        114
Health sciences .....................|  1,611 |   295 |  1,316 |  1,301 |   108 |     55 |     339 |     894 |        378
Law .................................|  1,127 |   889 |    237 |  1,024 |    47 |     29 |      85 |     691 |        351
Liberal arts  .......................|  2,030 |   883 |  1,149 |  1,670 |   139 |     96 |     404 |   1,011 |        616
Mathematics .........................|    736 |   479 |    257 |    612 |    79 |     23 |     134 |     394 |        209
Medicine and dentistry ..............|    996 |   731 |    265 |    794 |     7 |     72 |      85 |     559 |        352
Natural science .....................|  1,928 | 1,092 |    835 |  1,599 |    81 |     61 |     413 |     990 |        525
Nursing, public health ..............|    424 |    65 |    359 |    377 |    23 |      5 |      18 |     245 |        160
Philosophy ..........................|    610 |   489 |    121 |    532 |    30 |     18 |      88 |     260 |        260
Pre-professional ....................|    147 |    66 |     80 |    101 |    22 |     21 |      60 |      51 |         35
Psychology ..........................|  1,350 |   493 |    857 |  1,130 |   110 |     51 |     319 |     735 |        295
Social sciences .....................|  1,795 |   815 |    979 |  1,494 |   173 |     49 |     364 |     944 |        485
Other fields ........................|  5,273 | 2,774 |  2,500 |  4,419 |   342 |    187 |     988 |   2,947 |      1,338
                                     |========|=======|========|========|=======|========|=========|=========|============
                                     |                 Percentage distribution of degree holders, by field
                                     |____________________________________________________________________________________
      Total .........................|  100.0 | 100.0 |  100.0 |  100.0 | 100.0 |  100.0 |   100.0 |   100.0 |      100.0
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
Agriculture  ........................|    1.2 |   2.0 |    0.3 |    1.2 |   0.7 |    1.8 |     0.8 |     1.3 |        1.3
Architecture ........................|    2.8 |   2.3 |    3.2 |    2.8 |   1.0 |    3.3 |     3.5 |     2.7 |        2.4
Business ............................|   19.8 |  24.9 |   14.3 |   19.7 |  23.0 |   18.9 |    19.6 |    21.8 |       16.1
Communications ......................|    2.2 |   2.1 |    2.3 |    2.3 |   2.1 |    2.6 |     4.1 |     2.3 |        0.8
Computer ............................|    2.3 |   2.9 |    1.5 |    2.1 |   3.4 |    2.7 |     2.5 |     3.0 |        0.7
Education ...........................|   16.7 |   8.2 |   25.9 |   17.0 |  20.9 |   18.5 |    10.3 |    15.1 |       23.5
Engineering .........................|    7.2 |  12.6 |    1.3 |    7.2 |   2.8 |    4.0 |     6.3 |     6.7 |        8.6
Literature ..........................|    2.7 |   1.5 |    4.0 |    2.8 |   1.7 |    3.0 |     3.4 |     2.2 |        3.1
Foreign language ....................|    0.7 |   0.4 |    1.1 |    0.7 |   0.4 |    1.2 |     0.8 |     0.6 |        1.0
Health sciences .....................|    4.0 |   1.4 |    6.8 |    3.8 |   4.1 |    3.6 |     5.0 |     4.1 |        3.2
Law .................................|    2.8 |   4.2 |    1.2 |    3.0 |   1.8 |    1.9 |     1.3 |     3.1 |        3.0
Liberal arts  .......................|    5.0 |   4.2 |    5.9 |    4.9 |   5.3 |    6.3 |     6.0 |     4.6 |        5.2
Mathematics .........................|    1.8 |   2.3 |    1.3 |    1.8 |   3.0 |    1.5 |     2.0 |     1.8 |        1.8
Medicine and dentistry ..............|    2.5 |   3.5 |    1.4 |    2.3 |   0.3 |    4.8 |     1.3 |     2.5 |        3.0
Natural science .....................|    4.8 |   5.2 |    4.3 |    4.7 |   3.1 |    4.0 |     6.1 |     4.5 |        4.5
Nursing, public health ..............|    1.0 |   0.3 |    1.8 |    1.1 |   0.9 |    0.3 |     0.3 |     1.1 |        1.4
Philosophy ..........................|    1.5 |   2.3 |    0.6 |    1.6 |   1.1 |    1.2 |     1.3 |     1.2 |        2.2
Pre-professional ....................|    0.4 |   0.3 |    0.4 |    0.3 |   0.8 |    1.4 |     0.9 |     0.2 |        0.3
Psychology ..........................|    3.3 |   2.3 |    4.4 |    3.3 |   4.2 |    3.4 |     4.7 |     3.3 |        2.5
Social sciences .....................|    4.4 |   3.9 |    5.0 |    4.4 |   6.6 |    3.2 |     5.4 |     4.3 |        4.1
Other fields ........................|   13.0 |  13.2 |   12.8 |   13.0 |  13.0 |   12.3 |    14.6 |    13.4 |       11.4
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________

NOTE: Data are based on a sample survey of the civilian noninstitutional population. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Survey of Income and Program Participation, unpublished data. (This table was prepared April 2001.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest