Bachelor’s Degree or Higher, Ages 25-64

Postsecondary education is a significant factor in determining the lifetime earning potential of the average American, making it a critical variable in combating multidimensional poverty. Measuring educational attainment and employment success is crucial in understanding the success of the K-12 educational system. The main metric for postsecondary education is the percent of working age adults with a bachelor’s degree.  Louisville has a target goal of 40% of working age adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Peer City Perspective

Louisville currently ranks 11th among its peer cities in rates of individuals who have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, with 34.8% having earned at least a bachelor’s degree.

Louisville is in the bottom cluster of its peer group according to a natural breaks algorithm. Cities in green are those that outperform their peers, cities in yellow represent the middle cluster, and those in red are cities that lag behind their peers on this indicator.

Where are bachelor’s degree holders concentrated in Louisville?

Although Louisville ranks 11th out of 17 cities in attainment of bachelor’s degrees or higher, there is a clear geographical divide in the attainment of a secondary education degree. In the map to the left, areas where bachelor’s and advanced degrees are earned at a high rate can be seen in purple, and areas with lower rates of degree attainment are blue and white.

The highest attainment of secondary degrees can be seen in eastern Louisville in the Northeast Jefferson area, where the highest percentage reaches over 80%. In comparison, western Louisville communities earned fewer secondary education degrees, with the lowest rate being below 3% in some areas of Portland and Chickasaw-Shawnee.


Trends Over Time

Despite ranking 11th in comparison to peers, Louisville’s attainment rates of bachelor’s degrees or higher have been steadily increasing since 2000, moving towards the peer city mean. Though Louisville’s overall average is lower than that of its peers, the city has made the 6th-most progress of the peer group since 2000.

Comparison with the Most and Least Improved Cities.

Louisville is increasing its rate of working adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher faster than the peer mean.  The most improved city is Grand Rapids, which began at the same position as Louisville in 2000 and has since risen to the peer mean.

Differences Based on Race

More White residents hold bachelor’s degrees than Black residents. Both White and Black residents in Louisville are seeing increasing rates of degree attainment, however both groups continue to fall below their respective peer city means. In 2016, Black residents were performing at their 25th percentile, while White residents continued to perform below their 25th percentile.

Differences Based on Sex

Since 2000, women have surpassed men in attainment of bachelor’s degrees or higher. Both groups continue to fall below their respective peer city means.