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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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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
How are deaf and other disability categories decided?
The American Community Survey (ACS) does not define "deaf" as an identity. Instead, it collects data based on functional abilities by asking, "Is this person deaf or does he/she have serious difficulty hearing?" It categorizes people broadly by disability type, asking about difficulties related to seeing, walking, remembering, dressing, or doing errands. For more information, see How Disability Data are Collected from The American Community Survey.

In the Dashboard:
We do our best to create categories based on terminology used in the community.
  • deaf – Anyone who is deaf or has serious difficulty hearing.
  • deafblind – Anyone who is deaf and blind, or deaf with difficulty seeing.
  • deafdisabled – Anyone who is deaf and has any other disability (excluding blindness).
  • deaf with no disability – Anyone who is deaf and reports no other disabilities.
  • deaf with additional disabilities – Anyone who is deaf and reports one or more additional disabilities.
How are the racial categories decided?
This dashboard uses racial and ethnic categories from the American Community Survey (ACS), based on how people identify themselves.
  • Black or African American and white include those who selected only that race.
  • Native American includes American Indian, Alaska Native, or a specific tribe.
  • Asian includes Asian and Pacific Islander groups like Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Native Hawaiian.
  • Latine includes people of Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish origin (asked separately from race).
  • Multiracial includes those who selected two or more races or another race not listed.

More information available at the U.S. Census Bureau: About the Topic of Race.
Why does the National Level data use a 1-year estimate while the State Level data uses 5-year estimates?
State data report numbers are sourced from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, which provide a more precise representation by using a larger sample size. The national-level data used in the dashboard rely on ACS 1-year estimates to offer the most current employment and education rates. Therefore, you will notice small differences. For example, the deaf bachelor's or higher attainment rate is 22.7% for 2023 (national level tab) but it averages 21.2% from 2019-2023 (state level tab).
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.
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.
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).
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).