Education, work, and earnings for deaf people.
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United States · Deaf and hearing people
Who has a bachelor’s degree or higher?
About 24 out of every 100 deaf people in the selected population have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
United States · 2024
Who is included: Civilian noninstitutionalized population age 25–64
Bachelor's degree or higher
Capped lines show 95% confidence intervals: the uncertainty around each estimate. Wider intervals mean less precision.
United States
Read all 2 results as a table
| 95% MOE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Deaf | 24.3% | ±0.5 pp | 38,540 | Stable |
| United States | Hearing | 39.4% | ±0.2 pp | 1,599,949 | Stable |
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About these numbers
Who is included?
People ages 25–64. This excludes people on active military duty and people living in institutions, such as prisons or nursing homes.
In this survey, “deaf” includes people who say they are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing.
How to read the chart
- These numbers are estimates from a survey.
- The small lines show uncertainty. Longer lines mean the estimate is less precise.
- A gap may be due to chance. Different numbers alone do not prove that the groups differ.
Where the data comes from
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
Data period: 2024.
Full citation and technical details
The chart lines show 95% confidence intervals. A difference between estimates alone does not establish a statistically significant difference.
U.S. Census Bureau ACS PUMS; ndc-observatory-2026.3. Published with project owner authorization; independent scientific review remains pending.
Population definition: Civilian noninstitutionalized population age 25–64.
Methodology: ndc-observatory-2026.3
Compare specific groups Choose a different population, place, or demographic for each group.
About the data and common questions
These are estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. State results use pooled five-year estimates; national snapshots generally use one year. Each result states the population and period it describes.
What does unemployed mean?
Unemployed people are not working and are looking for work. People outside the labor force are neither working nor looking for work. The unemployed population share uses the full population in the measure, not just the labor force.
Why are the age ranges different?
Each measure has its own population definition. Education attainment generally covers ages 25–64; employment generally covers ages 16–64. Read “Who is included” above the chart.
All definitions · Methods and data limitations