Ranking the States by the Percentage of Women Among Their Doctoral Degree Recipients

The National Science Foundation recently released its annual data on doctoral degree recipients in the United States. Data for the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates shows that universities in the United States conferred 54,641 doctorates in 2017. Of these, 25,495, or 46.7 percent, were earned by women.

There is a wide disparity between the states in the awarding of doctoral degrees to women. Despite the fact that nationwide men earned more doctorates than women, there were several states where women earned a clear majority of all doctorates.

There were 10 states plus the District of Columbia, where women earned more doctorates than men. In Alaska, women earned 63.5 percent of all doctorates awarded. This was the highest percentage in the nation. Hawaii ranked second. There, women earned 58.7 percent of all doctorates awarded in 2107. Among states that awarded more tha 1,000 doctorates in 2017, Minnesota led the way. In Minnesota women earned 775, or 56.4 percent, of the 1,374 doctorates awarded. The other states where women earned more doctorates than men were Mississippi, Arkansas, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont.

In contrast, women earned only 30.9 percent of all doctorates awarded in South Dakota. Some 38 percent of all doctorates in the state of Utah and 38.6 percent of all doctorates earned in the state of Wyoming were earned by women in 2017.