College degrees in mid-20th Century U.S.A.

[Ringo]

What percentage of the adult U.S. population held a college degree in 1940? How does that compare to today?

[RealityChuck]

I don’t have the figures, but the percentage was far less in 1940. It wasn’t until the GI Bill after WWII that a college education began to become universal.

[Walloon]

From the U.S. Census Bureau: 5% of Americans age 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree in 1940. That rose to 20% by 1990. Also:

Progress in educational attainment also was reflected in the growing numbers of high school and college graduates in the country. Between 1940 and 1990, the number of high school graduates jumped from 18.0 to 119.5 million. Likewise, the number of college graduates, which stood at 3.4 million in 1940, soared to 32.3 million in 1990.

[Walloon]

I should have written: 5% had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

[Ringo]

I was aware of the effect of the G.I. Bill; that’s how my father wound up going to college. In fact it was my thinking about some of the jobs he had before the war without having a degree that lead to the question. I’d imagine nowadays it would be difficult to even be considered as a hospital business director without something like a Masters in Public Healllth or some such.

Thanks for the numbers, Walloon.