Counties in North Carolina by share of adults with a bachelor's degree
Orange County had the highest share of adults with a bachelor's degree of 100 counties in 2022, at 61.7%. Gates County had the lowest, at 8.9%. The median was 21.1% and the figure for North Carolina was 33.9%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
Top 40 counties, 2022
Full ranking
Other periods
About this ranking
People aged 25 and over whose highest degree is a bachelor's, master's, professional school or doctorate degree, as a percentage of all people aged 25 and over. United States: American Community Survey five-year estimate, where the period shown is the last year of the five-year span.
Excludes associate degrees and college without a degree. Not comparable with EU tertiary attainment, which includes short-cycle tertiary education and usually covers ages 25 to 64. Calculated from counts in ACS table B15003, which are stored as inputs.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B15003: population 25 years and over with a bachelor's degree or higher as a percentage of the population 25 years and over, calculated with stored inputs. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2022/table-based-SF/data/5YRData/acsdt5y2022-b15003.dat. Retrieved 2026-10-09.Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank Counties in North Carolina by share of adults with a bachelor's degree using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"bachelors_degree_share","level":"province","within":"North Carolina","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=bachelors_degree_share&level=province&within=North%20Carolina&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest share of adults with a bachelor's degree?
Orange County, with 61.7% in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest share of adults with a bachelor's degree?
Gates County, with 8.9% in 2022.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B15003: population 25 years and over with a bachelor's degree or higher as a percentage of the population 25 years and over, calculated with stored inputs. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
Bachelor's degree or higher, population 25 and over: other rankings
- US states
- US counties
- Counties in Texas
- Counties in Georgia
- Counties in Virginia
- Counties in Kentucky
- Counties in Missouri
- Counties in Kansas
- Counties in Illinois
- Counties in Iowa
- Counties in Tennessee
- Counties in Nebraska
Counties in North Carolina: more rankings
- Asian population share
- Live births, July to June
- Black or African American population share
- Crude birth rate, July to June
- Crude death rate, July to June
- Deaths, July to June
- Foreign-born population share
- Real GDP growth
- GDP per capita, US dollars
- Gross domestic product (GDP), US dollars
- Hispanic or Latino population share
- Homeownership rate (US, housing units)
- Median age
- Median gross rent (monthly)
- Median home value
- Median household income