Building an Inclusive Economy in NYC: Boosting College Attainment

This data brief is intended to shed light on the scope and scale of the disparities in college attainment across New York City. The analysis is conducted on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 and 2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. More specifically, it looks at educational attainment for working-age (age 25-64) residents of the five boroughs of New York City. Findings of this report include: (1) No other city has more college-educated residents, but the high overall number masks enormous disparities by race, ethnicity, and geography; (2) While there are racial disparities in college attainment across the city, several neighborhoods have particularly wide gaps; (3) The largest gains in college attainment over the past decade have occurred in gentrifying neighborhoods, exacerbating racial and ethnic achievement gaps; and (4) Nearly 700,000 working-age New Yorkers have completed some college but have no degree, signaling an important opportunity to boost college attainment. This brief also shares a number of steps city officials should take.