New data on educational attainment from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that, for the first time in history, American women hold more graduate degrees than American men. In 2010, 10,572,000 American women held master’s, professional, or doctoral degrees compared to 10,483,000 American men. The advantage for women is the result of a large lead in master’s degree attainments. In 2010, 8,344,000 American women held master’s degrees. The figure for men is 6,859,000. Men still hold a significant lead over women in professional degrees and doctorates. Men are 60.5 percent of all professional degree holders in the United States and 63 percent of all doctoral degrees have been awarded to men.
It is important to note that more than one million American women now hold doctorates and 1.2 million women hold professional degrees.
For the past 15 years, more women than men have held bachelor’s degrees. Today, more than 20 million American women have a four-year college degree.