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When we focus on educational attainment, we generally focus on prime working-age adults, defined here as adults between the ages of 25 and 64. There were 5.4 million prime working-age adults in North Carolina in 2017. Of these individuals, 2.3 million or 43.2% held a postsecondary degree: 545,000 or 10% had an associate degree 2 million or 22% had a bachelor’s degree 446,400 or 8% had a master’s degree 92,900 or 2% had a professional…
Levels of postsecondary educational attainment have risen steadily in recent decades. In 1970, only 19% of North Carolina adults ages 25-64 had any postsecondary education, six percentage points less than the national rate of 25%. Though adult postsecondary attainment in the state increased in 1980 and again in 1990, a large gap remained between North Carolina and the nation. This gap narrowed to two percentage points in 2000. By 2010, postsecondary attainment in North Carolina…
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