However, there are significant disparities in college education attainment across different demographic groups. For example, the college attainment rate is higher for men than women, and for whites and Asians than for Blacks and Hispanics. Additionally, college attainment rates vary widely by state, ranging from 26.4% in West Virginia to 57.3% in Massachusetts.
Despite the overall high level of college education attainment, there is concern that the United States is falling behind other countries in terms of the number of college graduates produced each year. In recent years, the United States has ranked 12th among OECD countries in terms of the percentage of adults with a tertiary degree. This has led to calls for increased investment in higher education and efforts to improve college affordability.