American Community Survey Briefs

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

Science and Engineering Degrees: 

2009

Introduction

This brief presents data on reported field 

of bachelor’s degrees for the nation, the 

50 states, the District of Columbia, and 

Puerto Rico based on the 2009 

American Community Survey (ACS). It 

focuses on the distribution of degrees in 

science and engineering fields (S&E) compared to all other degree fields. The 

science and engineering category 

includes fields such as animal sciences, 

biology, psychology, engineering, and 

anthropology. Examples of nonscience 

and nonengineering fields include agriculture, business, communications, education, and social work.

Information on field of bachelor’s degree 

was first collected by the ACS in 2009. 

Respondents who reported their highest degree completed was a bachelor’s 

degree, master’s degree, professional 

degree, or doctoral degree were also 

asked to list the specific major(s) of the 

bachelor’s degree. Respondents with 

more than one bachelor’s degree, or with 

more than one major field, were allowed 

to report multiple fields of degree. 

Field(s) of degree for levels of education 

other than the bachelor’s (such as vocational, master’s, or doctorate) were not 

collected.

Science and Engineering 

Degrees in the United States

The map displays the variation in S&E 

degrees by state for 2009. The table 

contains the estimated number of people 

with any bachelor’s degree, the number 

of people with at least one S&E bachelor’s 

degree, and the percentage of people 

with at least one bachelor’s degree in 

an S&E field. The estimated number of 

people in the United States age 25 and 

over with a bachelor’s degree or higher 

was 56.3 million. Of this group, 20.5 

million, or 36.4 percent, held at least one 

S&E degree.

The percentages of all bachelor’s degrees 

in the S&E fields were 28 or less in 

Mississippi, North Dakota, and Puerto 

Rico, and as high as 51 in the District of 

Columbia.

The District of Columbia and the 

five states of California, Maryland, 

Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington 

had a percentage of S&E degrees above 

40 percent. Nine additional states were 

also above the national average of 36.4 

percent: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, 

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, 

New York, Oregon, and Vermont.

Source and Accuracy

Data presented in this report are based on 

people and households that responded to 

the ACS in 2009. The resulting estimates 

are representative of the entire population. 

All comparisons presented in this report 

have taken sampling error into account 

and are significant at the 90 percent confidence level unless otherwise noted. Due 

to rounding, some details may not sum to 

totals. For information on sampling and 

estimation methods, confidentiality protection, and sampling and nonsampling 

errors, please see the “2009 ACS Accuracy 

of the Data” document located at <www

.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads

/data_documentation/Accuracy/ACS

_Accuracy_of_Data_2009.pdf>.

Issued October 2010

ACSBR/09-14

By

Julie Siebens
2 U.S. Census Bureau

MT

AK

NM

OR MN

KS

SD

ND

MO

WA

FL

IL IN

WI NY

PA

MI

OH

IA

ME

MA

CT 

AZ

NV

TX

CA CO

WY

UT

ID

NE

OK

GA

AR

AL

NC

MS

LA

TN

KY

VA

SC

WV

RI 

DE 

MD 

DC 

NJ 

Science and Engineering Degrees as a Percentage of 

Bachelor’s Degrees by State and Puerto Rico: 2009 

VT

HI

NH

U.S. percentage = 36.4

Percentage

40.0 or more

35.0 to 39.99

30.0 to 34.99

Less than 30.0

Note: Data are for the total population 25 years and older.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2009.

PR

What Is the American Community Survey?

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable 

and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data for the nation, states, congressional districts, 

counties, places, and other localities every year. It has an annual sample size of about 3 million addresses 

across the United States and Puerto Rico and includes both housing units and group quarters (e.g., nursing 

facilities and prisons). The ACS is conducted in every county throughout the nation, and every municipio in 

Puerto Rico, where it is called the Puerto Rico Community Survey. Beginning in 2006, ACS data for 2005 were 

released for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 and greater. For information on the ACS sample 

design and other topics, visit <www.census.gov/acs/www>.
U.S. Census Bureau 3

Total Population With Bachelor’s Degrees and With Science and Engineering Degrees by 

State and Puerto Rico: 2009

Area

Total population with bachelor’s degrees

Estimate1

Margin of 

error2 (±)

 Total population with science and engineering degrees

Estimate1

Margin of 

error2 (±) Percent

Margin of 

error2 (±)

 United States . . . . . 56,335,654 171,795 20,498,538 89,611 36.4 0.1

Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686,543 12,245 216,050 7,084 31.5 0.8

Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114,535 5,559 44,526 3,503 38.9 2.4

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,085,753 14,044 380,717 9,279 35.1 0.8

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358,933 9,504 102,173 4,972 28.5 1.2

California . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,110,449 41,480 2,990,726 27,567 42.1 0.3

Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,181,594 15,302 479,385 8,638 40.6 0.6

Connecticut . . . . . . . . . . . 843,502 11,640 332,553 9,396 39.4 0.9

Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171,091 6,009 62,715 3,870 36.7 1.8

District of Columbia . . . . . 200,382 5,000 102,203 4,239 51.0 1.8

Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,233,714 25,701 1,072,760 15,536 33.2 0.4

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,716,045 21,504 570,366 12,109 33.2 0.5

Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261,095 6,888 92,436 5,791 35.4 1.8

Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230,252 6,022 83,210 3,928 36.1 1.3

Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,581,463 17,778 894,174 13,837 34.6 0.5

Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944,320 14,704 289,498 8,057 30.7 0.7

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496,918 9,576 152,511 6,123 30.7 1.0

Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533,004 9,566 160,737 5,749 30.2 0.9

Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603,567 12,395 183,213 6,610 30.4 0.9

Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620,131 11,881 173,913 5,803 28.0 0.8

Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249,275 7,829 86,810 4,509 34.8 1.4

Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,355,268 16,700 591,897 11,532 43.7 0.7

Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . 1,716,578 18,229 720,463 12,902 42.0 0.6

Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,628,826 21,418 561,935 10,722 34.5 0.5

Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,098,041 13,828 386,044 8,771 35.2 0.6

Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . 365,660 9,502 97,918 4,861 26.8 1.2

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999,095 14,352 302,013 8,819 30.2 0.7

Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177,632 6,493 62,283 4,350 35.1 2.1

Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315,465 7,589 89,526 4,176 28.4 1.0

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376,423 8,862 123,040 5,200 32.7 1.3

New Hampshire . . . . . . . . 288,873 6,998 111,128 4,562 38.5 1.3

New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . 2,037,481 21,317 799,085 13,454 39.2 0.6

New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . 327,130 6,924 126,062 4,798 38.5 1.4

New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,275,463 30,486 1,575,997 18,928 36.9 0.4

North Carolina . . . . . . . . . 1,632,573 19,109 591,311 12,068 36.2 0.6

North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . 108,035 3,947 29,134 2,072 27.0 1.4

Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,866,776 19,330 600,768 11,293 32.2 0.5

Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . 540,276 9,481 153,529 5,470 28.4 0.9

Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754,459 12,227 299,923 8,343 39.8 0.9

Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . 2,271,270 19,144 807,225 11,500 35.5 0.4

Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . 217,976 7,157 82,276 4,326 37.7 1.5

South Carolina . . . . . . . . . 734,662 12,752 251,180 7,175 34.2 0.8

South Dakota . . . . . . . . . . 131,554 5,248 39,560 3,091 30.1 1.9

Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . 969,266 13,985 301,117 7,492 31.1 0.6

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,917,304 30,669 1,369,822 19,252 35.0 0.4

Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448,121 9,764 160,223 6,016 35.8 1.0

Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140,634 4,400 54,377 2,726 38.7 1.8

Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,770,257 19,314 742,583 14,150 41.9 0.6

Washington . . . . . . . . . . . 1,379,728 15,657 586,533 11,716 42.5 0.6

West Virginia . . . . . . . . . . 218,270 6,542 63,536 3,555 29.1 1.5

Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . 965,428 11,464 316,503 7,601 32.8 0.6

Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84,564 3,800 30,871 2,269 36.5 2.5

Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . 556,734 9,136 149,685 5,811 26.9 1.0

1

The estimates in this table are for the total population 25 years and older. 2

Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. A margin of error is a measure of an estimate’s variability. The larger the margin of error 

in relation to the size of the estimate, the less reliable the estimate. When added to and subtracted from the estimate, the margin of error forms the 90 percent 

confidence interval.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2009.