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ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS

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The chart has 1 X axis displaying values. Data ranges from -0.5 to 0.5.
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying values. Data ranges from 67.9 to 88.3.
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BACHELOR'S DEGREE ATTAINMENT OR HIGHER: UNITED STATES

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Bar chart with 2 data series.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying categories.
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying values. Data ranges from 22.7 to 38.4.
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In the United States, among people aged 25-64, an estimated 22.7% of deaf people have completed a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 38.4% of hearing people.
In this chart, estimates are based on a sample size of 9,321 deaf people and 649,234 hearing people in the United States who participated in the 2023 American Community Survey. The margin of errors are 0.49% for deaf people and 0.18% for hearing people.
Interpret data with caution. Estimates may be unstable due to small sample size or other factors.

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Education Attainment
Bachelor's
Overall
Overall
Age
Race
Gender
Disability
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deaf
hearing
State Reports: Postsecondary Achievement of Deaf People
Select a state to read...

Here is the interactive U.S. map for users to select and choose the state report.

Download, read, and share state reports about postsecondary outcomes of deaf people in your state. This important information may benefit people and organizations in each state as strategies are identified and put in place for systemic changes to better postsecondary outcomes for deaf people.

About Dashboard

Data is from the American Community Survey, an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Survey respondents who stated that they were deaf, or had serious difficulty hearing, were used to represent the deaf population in these analyses. The 2023 sample included 44,970 deaf people, and the 5-year sample (2019-2023) used for state-level data included 414,654 deaf people.

Recommended Citation

Bloom, C.L, Palmer, J.L., & Winninghoff, J. (2025). Deaf Postsecondary Data from the American Community Survey [Data visualization tool]. National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, University of Texas at Austin. www.nationaldeafcenter.org/dashboard
Data Dashboard FAQs
What does “deaf” mean in this dashboard?
The Census Bureau convened a task force to develop the disability questions for the American Community Survey. They decided to avoid disability and identity labels and instead use functional limitations. The purpose is to capture more people with disabilities, especially those who do not identify with having a disability. Anyone who answers yes to the question are you, "deaf or have serious difficulty hearing" is considered deaf in our dashboard. With this dataset there is no way to identify who is deaf, hard of hearing, or late deafened.
How many deaf people live in the United States?
According to the 2023, American Community Survey (ACS), about 2% of the U.S. population consider themselves deaf or have serious difficulty hearing. More information at:

The Hearing Loss Association of America estimates that 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss.
Why does the National Level data use a 1-year estimate while the State Level data uses 5-year estimates?
The American Community Survey provides data in 1-year and 5-year estimates. The dashboard uses 1-year estimates for the national-level data to provide the most current employment and education rates. 5-year estimates, which are larger, are used for state-level data to ensure that the sample size is large enough to be representative. The 2023 1-year ACS sample for deaf people is 44,970 while the 2019-2023 5-year ACS sample is 414,654.
How many deaf people attend residential schools and mainstream schools?
The American Community Survey does not collect data about the type of school deaf people attend so we do not know which educational environment people in this sample had attended. For estimates about deaf students in different educational environments, see Palmer et al., 2020; IDEA Section 618 Data or OSEP Fast Facts (2022).
How many deaf people use sign language?
The American Community Survey collects information about how well a person speaks English, and allows people to write in the additional languages used in the home. The ACS does not ask about knowledge or use of sign language. For current estimates about sign language use, see Mitchell & Young, (2022).
What is the difference between unemployed and not in the labor force?
The federal government describes people without a job as people who are unemployed or not in the labor force. People who reported being currently, or recently, looking for work, are counted as unemployed. People who are not currently employed, and are not looking for work, are counted as not in the labor force. This latter group may include students, parents, caretakers, or retired people, for example.
Why are some of the age ranges 16-64 and other age ranges 25-64?
This dashboard includes employment data for deaf people ages 16-64, commonly considered to be the working-age population, and education data for deaf people ages 25-64, used to calculate educational attainment rates. If you would like to learn more about deaf people younger than 16, check out Disability Statistics, or the American Community Survey Table Generator.