The chart below shows the expected lifetime earning relative to high school graduates, by education level. The earnings for those with a Bachelor's Degree are over half a million more than those with a only a high school diploma.
- The calculations in this figure are based on earnings of individuals working full-time year-round. Because the proportion of adults working full-time year-round increases with education level (for example, 67% of college graduates and 55% of high school graduates between the ages of 45 and 54 worked full-time in 2008), the lifetime earnings differentials would be larger if all adults - or all adult workers - were included in these calculations.
- Higher earnings correspond to higher tax payments. If after-tax earnings were used in this calculation, the ratio of lifetime earnings for individuals with more than a high school diploma to lifetime earnings for high school graduates would decline slightly.
Even more benefits with a college degree
Work Advantages
- The average annual income of a college graduate is 64% higher then the average annual income of a high school graduate. Over a 40-year career the difference can total in the millions!
- In 2009 the US economy experienced staggering unemployment rates that touched all job sectors, education levels and career paths. However, the unemployment rate for an individual with a college degree was 87% lower then those with only a high school diploma.
Life Advantages
- 68% of college graduates enjoy employer-provided health insurance, but only 50% of people with a high school diploma hold the same benefit.
- Bachelor’s degree recipients ages 25 to 34 are more than three times less likely to smoke cigarettes, 59% less likely
to be obese and 59% more likely to routinely exercise.
Source: 2009 annual averages for persons age 25 and over. Earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Current Population Survey. Education Pays 2010: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society is the third
Education Pays report from the College Board.