Educational Attainment
The distribution of highest education levels completed by residents of a ZIP code, from less than high school to graduate or professional degrees.
Educational attainment data from the American Community Survey breaks down the adult population (25 and older) by highest level of education completed: less than 9th grade, some high school, high school diploma or GED, some college, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, professional degree, and doctorate.
The most commonly cited metric is the percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Nationally, this figure is approximately 33%, but it varies from under 5% in some rural ZCTAs to over 80% in university towns and affluent suburbs.
Educational attainment at the ZIP level strongly correlates with median income, homeownership rates, and health outcomes. It is used by employers for workforce analysis, by universities for recruitment targeting, by policymakers for education funding decisions, and by marketers for consumer segmentation.