Less than High School Diploma

  • Among Hispanics ages 25 and older in the top 10 metro areas, Dallas has the highest share without a high school diploma—46%. Dallas is followed closely by the Los Angeles and Houston areas—both with 44%.
  • Miami has the lowest share (26%) of Hispanics without a high school diploma among the top 10 metropolitan areas.
  • In each of these metro areas, the share of Hispanics without a high school diploma is larger than that of the area’s total population. Similarly, for U.S. Hispanics overall, the share of those ages 25 and older without a high school diploma is 38%, compared with 14% of the total U.S. population ages 25 and older.
  • In the top 60 Hispanic metro areas more broadly, three have a majority of Hispanic adults lacking high school diplomas. Some 52% of Hispanic adults in Salinas-Sea Side-Monterey, Calif. (49th biggest Hispanic population) and 51% of Hispanic adults in Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, Calif. (32nd biggest) and Bakersfield, Calif. (25th biggest) lack a high school diploma.
  • Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood-Pompano Beach, Fla., which has the 23rd largest Hispanic population, has the smallest share of Hispanic adults without a high school diploma (17%).

Bachelor’s Degree or More

  • Among the top 10 metropolitan areas by Hispanic population, the share of Hispanics ages 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree is highest in the Miami area—23%. Miami leads the next most highly educated metro area, San Francisco (16%), by seven percentage points.
  • The metro area in the top 10 with the lowest share of Hispanics who are college-educated is Riverside, where less than one-in-ten Hispanics (8%) ages 25 and older have a four-year college degree.
  • In each of these metro areas, the share of Hispanics with a bachelor’s degree or more is lower than the share of the total population in that area that has a bachelor’s degree. Similarly, among all U.S. Hispanics ages 25 and older, the share with a bachelor’s degree or more is 13%, compared with 28% of the total U.S. population ages 25 and older.
  • Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (the 23rd largest Hispanic population), leads the 60 metropolitan areas in the share of Hispanic adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher—more than one-in-four (28%) Hispanic adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree.
  • Among the top 60 metropolitan areas, the share of Hispanic adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree is lowest in Visalia, Calif. (the 32nd largest Hispanic population), and Bakersfield, Calif. (25th largest). In both metro areas, just 5% of Hispanic adults have a bachelor’s degree.