February 05, 2024
Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau releases American Community Survey (ACS) data for geographies down to the block group. In September 2023, the 2022 ACS 1-year estimates for the nation and states were released providing a wide variety of information that can be used to track Michigan’s progress on a range of social and economic indicators.
The figure below provides data on the highest academic degree obtained for people ages 25 to 64 from 2005 to 2019 and in 2021 and 2022.1 This figure includes six series representing the percentage of Michigan and U.S. residents whose highest level of educational attainment is a high school diploma, an associate degree, or at least a bachelor’s degree (bachelor’s +).
In 2022, the highest level of education for 24.9 percent of the U.S. was a high school diploma, 9.2 percent had obtained an associate degree, and 37.3 percent had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree. Michigan slightly exceeded national rates of associate degree attainment but lagged in the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree. In Michigan, the terminal degree for 26.2 percent of residents was a high school diploma, 10.2 percent had obtained an associate degree, and 34.0 percent had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree.
In terms of longitudinal trends from 2005 to 2022, Michigan has generally exceeded the nation in the attainment of high school and associate degrees as the highest level of education. Michigan has consistently trailed the nation in the percentage of its 25- to 64-year-old population with at least a bachelor’s degree. Although Michigan has a consistently lower percentage of residents who have obtained bachelor’s degrees or more, the percentage of the population with these degrees has steadily increased in both Michigan and the United States for at least the last decade.
The figure below provides the poverty rates in Michigan and the United States from 2005 to 2019 and in 2021 and 2022.
Michigan had a non-statistically significant increase in poverty from 13.1 in 2021 to 13.4 percent in 2022. During this time, national poverty rates declined slightly by 0.2 percent to 12.6. Michigan’s poverty rate is far below where the state was during the Great Recession. Poverty rates steadily declined in Michigan and the United States from 2013 through 2019 and are near pre-Great Recession lows. However, Michigan has continuously had a higher poverty rate than the nation since 2006.
The figure below provides estimates of median household income in the United States and Michigan from 2005 to 2019 and in 2021 and 2022, with data adjusted to 2022 dollars. The median household income was $74,755 in the United States in 2022 compared to $66,986 for Michigan households.
However, the United States experienced a real income decline of about $600 (-0.8 percent) in 2022 against a decline of $1,650 (-2.4 percent) for Michigan households. These declines in real income were at least partially related to the high inflation rate the nation experienced in 2022. Although U.S. household income recovered to pre-Great Recession levels in 2017, Michigan’s median household income has not recovered since the Great Recession.
All data presented here, in addition to a wealth of other socioeconomic, demographic, and housing information are available from the U.S. Census Bureau's website, data.census.gov.
1Due to the challenges of conducting a household survey during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the response rate to the American Community Survey (ACS) was lower than usual in 2020. Accordingly, the 2020 ACS 1-year estimates are excluded from the time series in this data release. More information on non-response bias in the 2020 1-year estimates and the implementation of an experimental weighting scheme is available on the U.S. Census Bureau website.
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