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In the United States, 17.7% of workers were in jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The figure measures a job’s minimum formal education requirement as a condition of hire—not the degrees workers hold—and it does not combine bachelor’s, master’s, and other postsecondary credentials into an “any college degree” total.
What the 17.7% figure measures
The BLS Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) estimates the share of workers whose jobs require a particular minimum level of formal education. Its definition is the minimum formal coursework resulting in a degree required as a condition of hire, excluding general education. The 2025 results were released January 16, 2026. BLS, Occupational Requirements in the United States—2025 A01 Results.
That makes 17.7% a worker-weighted estimate of jobs with a bachelor’s requirement. It is not the share of job titles, advertised vacancies, or workers who personally have bachelor’s degrees. BLS also treats advanced degrees as separate requirement levels: a job requiring a master’s degree is counted at that level, not also as requiring a bachelor’s degree. The headline ORS result therefore should not be presented as the share of jobs requiring any college credential.
How education requirements break down
The same BLS release reports these national shares of workers by minimum formal education requirement:
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| Minimum formal education requirement | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| No minimum formal education | 32.5% |
| High school diploma | 39.3% |
| Bachelor’s degree | 17.7% |
These three figures do not add up to 100%; other education levels, including advanced degrees and postsecondary education below a bachelor’s degree, are reported separately. “No minimum formal education” does not mean that every such job requires no skills, training, credentials, or experience; it means the ORS formal-education measure identifies no minimum degree requirement.
Requirements vary sharply by occupation
A national average can conceal very different entry requirements. In 2025, BLS reported that a bachelor’s degree was required for 82.9% of workers in marketing manager jobs and 83.9% of workers in fundraiser jobs. The estimate for fundraisers has a relatively large standard error of 9.2 percentage points, so it is less precise. For bartenders and for waiters and waitresses, the reported bachelor’s-requirement estimate was below 0.5%. The all-worker estimate of 17.7% has a standard error of 0.5 percentage points. See the BLS 2025 ORS detailed table.
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Why other published percentages may differ
Figures about future openings, projected education needs, and job advertisements answer different questions from the ORS estimate. Check the education threshold, denominator, time period, and method before comparing them.
Future openings and typical entry education
BLS’s 2024–34 projections group occupations by typical entry education and project about 19 million openings a year on average across the decade. Its analysis says a bachelor’s degree is typically required for entry in 178 occupations, with master’s and doctoral or professional degree occupations counted separately. This is an occupation and projected-openings view, not the percentage of current workers in jobs with a formal bachelor’s requirement. BLS Career Outlook: Education level and projected openings.
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Postsecondary education and training forecasts
Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimated that 72% of U.S. jobs in 2031 will require postsecondary education and/or training. That forecast includes training and pathways below a bachelor’s degree, and refers to jobs projected for a future year. It is not an alternative measurement of the 2025 share requiring a bachelor’s degree. Georgetown CEW, After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031.
Job-posting analyses
A 2024 Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School report analyzed Lightcast online postings. It found that, controlling for occupational mix, the percentage of postings requiring a college degree had fallen 3.6% over the period studied. That is a relative change in the share of postings, not the percentage of workers currently in jobs requiring a degree. Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice.
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How to use the statistic when evaluating a career
- Look up the specific occupation rather than assuming the national average applies to it.
- Distinguish a formal minimum requirement from what employers prefer or what workers commonly hold.
- Check whether a figure covers bachelor’s degrees alone, all postsecondary education, or education plus training.
- When considering hiring prospects, keep current-worker estimates separate from projected openings and job-ad counts.
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