Higher share of employed women than men held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2025

Educational attainment and employment status are closely related. Prior to the 2000s, employed men were more likely to hold a bachelor’s degree or higher than employed women. However, this trend reversed in the mid-2000s as women began pursuing higher education at a faster rate than men. In 2005, the percentage of employed women holding a bachelor’s degree and higher (33.5 percent) surpassed that of employed men (32.6 percent). Since then, this education gap has continued to grow; by 2025, nearly half of all employed women (49.6 percent) held a bachelor’s degree and higher, compared with 41.7 percent of employed men.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see the BLS Report, "Women in the labor force, 2024: occupation employment profiles of women and men by age" and annual average data for 2025. For more data about women and wages, see demographics and earnings pages. These data pertain to people age 25 and over because most people have completed their schooling by age 25.