Household Incomes 2022: The Value of Higher Education

What is the value of education for household income? The Census Bureau's annual survey data for 2022 published in earlier this month gives us some interesting insights into this question. The median income for all households with a householder age 25 and older was $75,980. The chart below shows 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.

Household Income by Educational Attainment - Median

A particularly notable feature in the chart above is that the Bachelor's Degree median at $108.8K is more than double the High School grad's $51.5K. A Master's Degree increases the Bachelor's median by $19.2K. A Professional Degree (Law and Medical being the major ones) adds $49.0K.

Here is the same chart, this time illustrating the Mean (average) household incomes for the same cohorts.

Household Income by Educational Attainment - Mean

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.

Household Income by Educational Attainment - Median versus Mean

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.

Household Percentages of Educational Attainment - 1991 versus 2022

Here is the same visualization of the year-over-year comparison.

Household Percentages of Educational Attainment 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 Associate's and Bachelor's degrees have almost doubled
  • The number of householders with Master's and Doctorates have more than doubled
  • The number of householders with Professional degrees have mostly stayed the same

Household Percentages of Educational Attainment - 1991 versus 2022

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.

Some Inflation Price Comparisons

Advanced educational attainment correlates with higher household incomes. But the cost of that education has soared.


This article was originally written by Doug Short. From 2016-2022, it was improved upon and updated by Jill Mislinski. Starting in January 2023, AP Charts pages will be maintained by Jennifer Nash at VettaFi | Advisor Perspectives

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