Indicators Washington

HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Washington State

Counties

Cities

State Highlights

Help

Washington: Educational attainment

Download data

Download county data for Washington
Download multiple indicators/regions

These data come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. They are based on averages of data collected in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. These estimates cannot be used to say what is going on in any particular year in the period, only what the average value is over the full period. The Census Bureau's American Factfinder provides 3-year estimates for counties with at least 20,000 people, and 1-year estimates for counties with at least 65,000 people. We use 5-year estimates because they are available for all counties and allow comparison to other counties within the region.

Educational attainment refers to the highest level of school completed. In Washington between 2010-2014 . . .

9.8 percent of the population 25 years and older had no high school diploma, compared to 13.7 percent in the U.S.
32.3 percent of the population 25 years and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 29.3 percent in the U.S.

NOTE: There is no problem with comparing these data to census data from 2000.

Ask questions:

· Does your county have a relatively high level of educational attainment, e.g., do a high percentage of your residents have a college degree?

· Is the percentage of high school graduates or college graduates increasing?

Look at other indicators:

· “Poverty & Income: Per capita income” or “Poverty & Income: Poverty rate, overall” – If your county has low levels of educational attainment, does it also have relatively low levels of income and/or high poverty rates?

· “Employment: Employment by industry” – Does your local economy provide jobs that require high or low levels of education?

Dig deeper:

· Look at the county rankings for your state and/or view maps to see how your county compares to others.

· Download data for your county or state to see how many people are in each educational attainment category.

· Take a Big Picture view of your county.

· If you have specific questions, send us an e-mail.

NOTE: These ACS data are estimates based on a five-year average, meaning that data gathered from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 are averaged together to come up with the results shown here. There is no problem with comparing these data to census data from 2000. For a technical discussion of the "margins of error" associated with ACS estimates, please see: (http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/handbooks/ACSGeneralHandbook.pdf)

Source: 2000, 2006-2014: U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey, American Factfinder, (http://factfinder2.census.gov);
DATE LAST UPDATED: December 7, 2015.