What is the relationship between education and household income? The Census Bureau’s 2023 annual survey data provides valuable insights into this question. The median household income for individuals aged 25 and older was $82,010, but how does this figure vary based on educational attainment?
The chart below helps answer that question by showing the median annual household income for nine cohorts by educational attainment. We've rounded the data points to the nearest $100, e.g. $69.2K for all households age 25 and older. As expected, higher levels of educational attainment are associated with higher household income, but this chart does a good job of showing the incremental increases each level of education can add onto income.
A particularly notable feature in the chart above is that the Bachelor's Degree median at $117.6K is more than double the High School grad's $55.8K. A Master's Degree increases the Bachelor's median by $18.9K, while a Professional Degree (Law and Medical being the major ones) adds $54.5K.
Here is the same chart, this time illustrating the Mean (average) household incomes for the same cohorts.
For a better sense of the mean skew, here is a side-by-side comparison of the median and mean. As we would expect, the mean is larger than the median for all cohorts.
The educational attainment of householders has clearly increased over the time frame of the Census Bureau's annual data. The current survey questionnaire dates from 1991. Here is a pair of pie charts that highlight the difference in the cohort percentages in 1991 versus the present. Most notably, those with a high school diploma or less made up over 50% in 1991 but that number has now significantly dropped to just under 33%.
Here is the same visualization of the year-over-year comparison.
The column chart below gives us a clearer comparison of the individual cohorts. Here are some key takeaways:
- The number of householders with less than a High School degree has been cut by almost two-thirds
- The number of householders with Bachelor's degrees have almost doubled
- The number of householders with Associate's, Master's and Doctorates have more than doubled
- The number of householders with Professional degrees have mostly stayed the same
Educational attainment has clearly advanced over the time frame of this Census Bureau series, and the income benefits are obvious. Of course, the cost of post-High School education is substantial. Here is a snapshot of inflation comparisons since 1991.
Advanced educational attainment correlates with higher household incomes. But the cost of that education has soared.
- U.S. Household Incomes: A Multi-Decade Perspective
- Household Incomes: Age
- Household Incomes: Purchasing Power by State
- Household Incomes: State
- Household Incomes: Middle Class
