Estimated median household income of householders with only a high school degree didn’t change significantly from 2004 ($58,410) to 2024 ($58,920).

There was also no significant increase in income for those with some college education between 2004 and 2024.

By contrast, households at the opposite ends of the education spectrum saw their median income rise.

The median household income of those with at least a bachelor’s degree rose by about $15,000 or 13.1%, while the median household income of those with less than a high school diploma (the smallest educational attainment group) climbed by about $3,500 or 10.4% (percent increases for the two groups did not significantly differ from each other).

Overall, the income gap between householders with a bachelor’s degree or higher and those with a high school degree but no college widened during the 20-year period.

In 2004, households headed by those with at least a bachelor’s degree had about twice as much income as those headed by someone with a high school degree but no college. By 2024, householders with a bachelor’s degree or higher had median household income 2.3 times higher than those with a high school degree.

The makeup of educational attainment groups also changed over time.

In recent decades, growth in the population with a bachelor’s degree or higher has been concentrated among racial and ethnic groups with historically low attainment. This growth has also disproportionately come from increasing educational attainment among women. 

Median household income accounts for all pretax money income streams (earnings and other income, like Social Security, interest or dividends) for all members of a household. To show the relationship between education and employment outcomes, we also looked at individual earnings of those working full-time (35 hours or more a week), year-round (50 weeks or more).

In 2004, the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers age 25 and over with a high school degree was $49,050, compared to $85,810 for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Between 2004 and 2024, earnings of those with a high school degree but no college rose 3.2%, while earnings of those with a bachelor’s degree or more went up 6.3%.

By 2024, due to differences in earnings growth by education, median earnings of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher were 1.8 times those with a high school degree but no college, up from about 1.7 times in 2004.

During the 20-year period, households headed by someone with a bachelor’s degree or higher saw greater gains in median household income than those with a high school degree but no college. The same holds true of the earnings of those who worked full-time, year-round.

However, the gaps between those with a bachelor’s degree or higher and those with a high school degree but no college were larger for household income than for individual earnings.

What might account for these differences?

First, household income includes many sources of income not captured by earnings, such as Social Security, interest and dividends.

In addition, a household can include members besides the householder who contribute to household income. This is especially significant among those with a bachelor’s degree, who are more likely to be married and to live with others with high levels of education, which can further boost household income.

Understanding the Relationship Between Individual Earnings and Household Income provides more information on these two measures.

The technical documentation includes information on confidentiality protection, methodology, and sampling and nonsampling error.

Published measures of sampling uncertainty for 2004 estimates (not adjusted for inflation) can be found here. All inflation adjustments use the C-CPI-U. All comparative statements have undergone statistical testing and are statistically significant at the 90% confidence level unless otherwise noted.