Advanced Degrees, Limited English: America’s Hidden Credential Gap (2024)
About 300,000 working-age adults hold a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree but speak English "not well" or "not at all." They earn roughly half what their English-proficient peers with the same degrees earn.
Key findings
- In 2024 1-Year, about 303,733 working-age adults (±14,853) held a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree yet spoke English "not well" or "not at all."
- 86.2% of them were foreign born, so this is overwhelmingly a story of degrees earned abroad meeting a language barrier at home.
- Among those working, their median earnings were $45,686, versus $94,418 for equally-credentialed adults who are proficient in English: about 48.4 cents on the dollar.
- They were also less likely to be working at all: an employment rate of 72.5% (±2.0) versus 88.5% for the English-proficient group.
- The largest origin groups are Latin America (138,488) and Asia (87,852).
This looks at a group almost never counted: people who hold an advanced degree but cannot work comfortably in English. It uses the 2024 1-Year American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample, limited to adults aged 25 to 64. "Advanced degree" means a master's, professional, or doctoral degree (the Census education recode SCHL, codes 22 to 24). English ability is the Census measure ENG; "limited" here means a person reported speaking English "not well" or "not at all," and "proficient" means they speak only English or speak it "very well." Estimates are weighted with the person weight (PWGTP). Earnings are median total earnings among the employed with positive earnings, in constant 2024 dollars (Census factor ADJINC).
Advanced degree, limited English
Median earnings fall with English ability, even at the same degree level
| Median earnings, employed adults 25-64 | Median earnings (employed) |
|---|---|
| Proficient (only English, or very well) | $94,418 |
| Speaks English "well" | $77,159 |
| Limited (not well, or not at all) | $45,686 |
All three groups hold a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree. Earnings are point estimates of the weighted distribution.
Where the limited-English degree holders come from
| Adults with an advanced degree and limited English | Adults 25-64 |
|---|---|
| Latin America | 138,488 |
| Asia | 87,852 |
| Born in the U.S. | 33,873 |
| Europe | 29,874 |
| Africa | 6,699 |
| Puerto Rico and U.S. Island Areas | 6,098 |
Only regions with enough sampled people to be reliable are shown.
By English-speaking ability (advanced-degree holders, 25-64)
| English ability | People | Foreign born | Employed | Median earnings | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proficient (only English, or very well) | 24,828,880 ± 146,923 | 19.9% | 88.5% ± 0.1 | $94,418 | 251,760 |
| Speaks English "well" | 992,919 ± 24,414 | 86.8% | 80.4% ± 1.0 | $77,159 | 9,249 |
| Limited (not well, or not at all) | 303,733 ± 14,853 | 86.2% | 72.5% ± 2.0 | $45,686 | 2,495 |
Margins of error are at the 90% confidence level, from 80 replicate weights. Median earnings are point estimates of the weighted distribution. Sample is the unweighted number of people surveyed.
Data Sources & Methodology
The figures on this page are computed directly from the source data below. Narrative text accompanies the figures but never generates them.
American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS)
- Publisher:
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Vintage:
- 2024 1-Year
- Access:
- BigQuery
- Cadence:
- annual
De-identified individual person and housing records from the American Community Survey, the Census Bureau’s largest household survey. The 1-year PUMS file lets analysts compute custom estimates for demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics down to the Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) level.
The ACS is a continuous survey that samples households throughout the year. The 2024 1-year PUMS file is a sample of de-identified person and housing records collected over calendar year 2024, representing the resident population of the United States.
Every record carries a sampling weight (PWGTP for persons, WGTP for housing units) that expands the sample to population and housing-unit totals. All statistics on this page are weighted estimates; any unweighted record counts are shown only to convey sample size.
Margins of error are computed from the 80 replicate weights supplied with the PUMS file using the Census Bureau’s successive-difference replication method, and are reported at the 90% confidence level unless stated otherwise.
Sub-state estimates use Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs), statistical areas of at least 100,000 residents. The 2020-vintage PUMA boundaries apply to 2022 and later ACS data.
- PUMS is a sample of roughly one percent of the population, so every estimate carries sampling error; small subgroups and small geographies have wider margins of error.
- Figures are survey estimates, not a complete count, and can differ from administrative records or the full ACS tabulations.
- Dollar amounts reflect the survey year and are not adjusted for inflation across vintages unless explicitly noted.
- PUMA boundaries are redrawn after each decennial census, which breaks strict geographic comparability across the boundary change.
How these figures were produced
- Estimate type:
- Weighted survey estimate (person level)
- Weighting:
- PWGTP (person weight)
- Confidence level:
- 90%
- Error estimation:
- Successive-difference replication over 80 replicate weights
Suggested citation
U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 1-Year American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Analysis by Matt George, itsmattgeorge.com. Retrieved 2026-10-15.