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Digest of Education Statistics
2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 11. Educational attainment of persons 18 years old and over, by state: Selected years, 1990 to 2002

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                         |Distribution of population, 25 years      |      Percent of           |  Percent of 18- to
                         |old and over, by education level, 1990    | population, 25 years      |  24- year-olds who
                         |__________________________________________| old and over, by education|  were high school
                         |Percent|Percent|Percent with bachelor's   |    level, March 2002      |  graduates\1\
                         | less  | high  |  degree or higher        |___________________________|___________________________
                         | than  |school |__________________________| Percent     |Percent      |             |
                         | high  |diploma|       |       | Graduate | with high   |with         |             |
          State          |school |  or   | Total |Bache- | or pro-  |  school     |bachelor's   |             |
                         |       |higher |       | lor's |fessional |diploma or   |degree or    |             |
                         |       |       |       |degree |  degree  |  higher     |higher       |   1993-95   |  1998-2000
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
_________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|__________|_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
            1            |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |    6     |      7      |     8       |      9      |     10
_________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|__________|_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
   United States ........|   24.8|   75.2|   20.3|   13.1|       7.2|   84.1(0.09)|   26.7(0.11)|   85.3(0.21)|   85.7(0.20)
                         |_______|_______|_______|_______|__________|_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
Alabama .................|   33.1|   66.9|   15.7|   10.1|       5.5|   78.9(0.79)|   22.7(0.79)|   84.0(1.68)|   81.6(1.67)
Alaska ..................|   13.4|   86.6|   23.0|   15.0|       8.0|   92.2(0.61)|   25.6(0.97)|   90.5(3.90)|   93.3(3.17)
Arizona .................|   21.3|   78.7|   20.3|   13.3|       7.0|   84.6(0.79)|   26.3(0.97)|   84.0(1.82)|   73.5(1.73)
Arkansas ................|   33.7|   66.3|   13.3|    8.9|       4.5|   81.0(0.79)|   18.3(0.79)|   88.4(2.00)|   84.1(2.14)
California ..............|   23.8|   76.2|   23.4|   15.3|       8.1|   80.2(0.36)|   27.9(0.43)|   78.9(0.71)|   82.5(0.60)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Colorado ................|   15.6|   84.4|   27.0|   18.0|       9.0|   87.6(0.55)|   35.7(0.79)|   88.4(1.55)|   81.6(1.79)
Connecticut .............|   20.8|   79.2|   27.2|   16.2|      11.0|   88.0(0.55)|   32.6(0.79)|   94.7(1.29)|   91.7(1.64)
Delaware ................|   22.5|   77.5|   21.4|   13.7|       7.7|   88.5(0.73)|   29.5(1.03)|   93.3(2.84)|   91.0(3.18)
District of Columbia ....|   26.9|   73.1|   33.3|   16.1|      17.2|   83.5(0.85)|   44.4(1.09)|   87.7(4.13)|   88.0(3.80)
Florida .................|   25.6|   74.4|   18.3|   12.0|       6.3|   83.3(0.43)|   25.7(0.49)|   80.7(1.03)|   84.6(0.91)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Georgia .................|   29.1|   70.9|   19.3|   12.9|       6.4|   82.9(0.79)|   25.0(0.85)|   80.3(1.39)|   83.5(1.23)
Hawaii ..................|   19.9|   80.1|   22.9|   15.8|       7.1|   87.9(0.73)|   26.8(0.97)|   92.0(2.53)|   91.8(2.42)
Idaho ...................|   20.3|   79.7|   17.7|   12.4|       5.3|   86.8(0.73)|   20.9(0.85)|   86.4(3.00)|   86.4(2.64)
Illinois ................|   23.8|   76.2|   21.0|   13.6|       7.5|   85.9(0.43)|   27.3(0.55)|   86.7(0.94)|   87.1(0.91)
Indiana..................|   24.4|   75.6|   15.6|    9.2|       6.4|   85.3(0.61)|   23.7(0.73)|   88.5(1.24)|   89.4(1.23)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Iowa ....................|   19.9|   80.1|   16.9|   11.7|       5.2|   88.3(0.61)|   23.1(0.79)|   93.2(1.34)|   90.8(1.61)
Kansas ..................|   18.7|   81.3|   21.1|   14.1|       7.0|   87.5(0.55)|   29.1(0.79)|   90.9(1.73)|   90.4(1.59)
Kentucky ................|   35.4|   64.6|   13.6|    8.1|       5.5|   80.8(0.79)|   21.6(0.79)|   82.4(1.95)|   86.2(1.68)
Louisiana ...............|   31.7|   68.3|   16.1|   10.5|       5.6|   78.8(0.91)|   22.1(0.91)|   80.5(1.87)|   82.1(1.62)
Maine ...................|   21.2|   78.8|   18.8|   12.7|       6.1|   87.4(0.55)|   23.8(0.73)|   92.9(2.30)|   94.5(2.02)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Maryland ................|   21.6|   78.4|   26.5|   15.6|      10.9|   87.5(0.61)|   37.6(0.91)|   93.6(1.12)|   87.4(1.53)
Massachusetts ...........|   20.0|   80.0|   27.2|   16.6|      10.6|   86.5(0.55)|   34.3(0.79)|   92.5(1.06)|   90.9(1.11)
Michigan ................|   23.2|   76.8|   17.4|   10.9|       6.4|   86.5(0.49)|   22.5(0.55)|   88.7(0.98)|   89.2(0.89)
Minnesota ...............|   17.6|   82.4|   21.8|   15.6|       6.3|   92.2(0.49)|   30.5(0.79)|   93.3(1.12)|   91.9(1.16)
Mississippi .............|   35.7|   64.3|   14.7|    9.7|       5.1|   79.1(0.91)|   20.9(0.91)|   83.9(2.14)|   82.3(2.11)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Missouri.................|   26.1|   73.9|   17.8|   11.7|       6.1|   88.1(0.61)|   26.7(0.79)|   90.3(1.33)|   92.6(1.08)
Montana .................|   19.0|   81.0|   19.8|   14.1|       5.7|   89.7(0.67)|   23.6(0.91)|   89.8(3.46)|   91.1(2.73)
Nebraska ................|   18.2|   81.8|   18.9|   13.1|       5.9|   89.8(0.61)|   27.1(0.85)|   94.5(1.73)|   91.3(1.89)
Nevada ..................|   21.2|   78.8|   15.3|   10.1|       5.2|   85.8(0.67)|   22.1(0.85)|   81.9(3.35)|   77.9(2.92)
New Hampshire ...........|   17.8|   82.2|   24.4|   16.4|       7.9|   90.2(0.55)|   30.1(0.79)|   86.9(3.18)|   85.1(3.63)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
New Jersey ..............|   23.3|   76.7|   24.9|   16.0|       8.8|   85.9(0.49)|   31.4(0.61)|   91.8(0.98)|   90.1(1.02)
New Mexico ..............|   24.9|   75.1|   20.4|   12.1|       8.3|   81.6(0.91)|   25.4(1.03)|   82.4(2.99)|   83.0(2.74)
New York ................|   25.2|   74.8|   23.1|   13.2|       9.9|   83.7(0.36)|   28.8(0.49)|   87.1(0.77)|   86.3(0.77)
North Carolina ..........|   30.0|   70.0|   17.4|   12.0|       5.4|   80.1(0.73)|   22.4(0.73)|   85.5(1.26)|   86.1(1.16)
North Dakota ............|   23.3|   76.7|   18.1|   13.5|       4.5|   89.0(0.61)|   25.3(0.79)|   96.6(2.14)|   94.4(2.69)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Ohio ....................|   24.3|   75.7|   17.0|   11.1|       5.9|   87.3(0.43)|   24.5(0.55)|   88.4(0.92)|   87.7(0.91)
Oklahoma ................|   25.4|   74.6|   17.8|   11.8|       6.0|   85.1(0.67)|   20.4(0.73)|   87.0(1.91)|   85.7(1.82)
Oregon ..................|   18.5|   81.5|   20.6|   13.6|       7.0|   87.7(0.61)|   27.1(0.85)|   82.7(2.12)|   82.3(1.92)
Pennsylvania ............|   25.3|   74.7|   17.9|   11.3|       6.6|   86.1(0.43)|   26.1(0.55)|   89.5(0.89)|   89.0(0.86)
Rhode Island ............|   28.0|   72.0|   21.3|   13.5|       7.8|   80.1(0.67)|   30.1(0.79)|   89.4(3.30)|   87.9(3.19)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
South Carolina ..........|   31.7|   68.3|   16.6|   11.2|       5.4|   80.2(0.85)|   23.3(0.85)|   88.0(1.64)|   85.1(1.74)
South Dakota ............|   22.9|   77.1|   17.2|   12.3|       4.9|   89.2(0.55)|   23.6(0.73)|   91.5(3.27)|   92.0(2.78)
Tennessee ...............|   32.9|   67.1|   16.0|   10.5|       5.4|   80.1(0.85)|   21.5(0.85)|   84.6(1.51)|   89.0(1.32)
Texas ...................|   27.9|   72.1|   20.3|   13.9|       6.5|   78.1(0.49)|   26.2(0.55)|   79.5(0.87)|   79.4(0.82)
Utah ....................|   14.9|   85.1|   22.3|   15.4|       6.8|   91.0(0.67)|   26.8(0.97)|   93.6(1.52)|   90.0(1.62)
                         |       |       |       |       |          |             |             |             |
Vermont .................|   19.2|   80.8|   24.3|   15.4|       8.9|   87.4(0.67)|   30.8(0.91)|   88.1(4.34)|   90.8(3.87)
Virginia ................|   24.8|   75.2|   24.5|   15.4|       9.1|   86.7(0.67)|   34.6(0.91)|   87.7(1.23)|   87.3(1.28)
Washington ..............|   16.2|   83.8|   22.9|   15.9|       7.0|   90.4(0.61)|   28.3(0.91)|   85.7(1.44)|   87.4(1.25)
West Virginia............|   34.0|   66.0|   12.3|    7.5|       4.8|   78.5(0.73)|   15.9(0.61)|   86.8(2.38)|   89.6(2.15)
Wisconsin ...............|   21.4|   78.6|   17.7|   12.1|       5.6|   86.8(0.55)|   24.7(0.73)|   93.7(1.03)|   90.0(1.25)
Wyoming .................|   17.0|   83.0|   18.8|   13.1|       5.7|   91.6(0.55)|   19.6(0.79)|   90.8(3.98)|   86.5(4.53)
_________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|__________|_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________

\1\Excludes students still enrolled in high school. Data reflect 3-year averages.

NOTE: Standard errors appear in parentheses. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Some data revised from previously published figures

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, "Educational Attainment in the United States," various years; and Decennial Census, Minority Economic Profiles, unpublished data; and National Center for Education Statistics, Dropout Rates in the United States, various years. (This table was prepared May 2003.)


2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest