Workers with a license or certificate earn 16% more, and high school grads gain the most

Full-time workers who hold a professional license, certification, or vocational certificate earn more than those who don't, and the gap is widest for people who stopped at a high school diploma, according to a Census Bureau analysis released September 22.

Using combined 2019 to 2024 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, Bureau statistician Theresa R. Hernandez found that full-time workers ages 25 to 64 with a nondegree credential reported median annual earnings 16.4 percent higher than those without one. About 37 percent of adults in that age range with at least a high school diploma have earned such a credential.

Nondegree credentials come in three kinds. Certificates are awarded by community colleges, trade schools, and universities after a job-focused program. Certifications come from industry groups or companies, such as a nursing association or Google, and usually require passing an exam. Licenses are issued by government and are legally required for some jobs; every state requires one for emergency medical technicians, cosmetologists, barbers, and attorneys. Certifications and licenses can expire. Certificates do not.

Who gains the most

Workers whose highest education was high school were the only group that earned significantly more with every type of credential. They made 7.4 percent more with either a certificate or a certification or license, and about 21.0 percent more with both, a combination the bureau calls a CCL.

Some credentials closed the gap with more schooling entirely. Workers with only a high school education plus a certification or license had median earnings no different from workers with some college or an associate degree and no credential. Some college plus a certification or license was associated with higher median earnings than an associate degree alone.

The bureau cautions that it cannot credit the credentials for the higher pay. The survey does not ask when a credential was earned or whether it relates to the person's current job.

Who holds them

Among full-time workers with a high school diploma up to a bachelor's degree, roughly a third held some kind of nondegree credential. About 55 percent of holders had only a certification or license, 21.6 percent had only a certificate, and 23.5 percent had both.

• Women held them at a slightly higher rate than men, 36.1 percent to 32.8 percent.
• About 36.0 percent of white workers, 34.0 percent of Black workers, 30.3 percent of Asian workers, and 28.9 percent of Hispanic workers had one.
• Workers ages 25 to 34 had them less often, 29.3 percent, than those 35 to 64, at about 35 percent.
• Nearly half of associate degree holders had one, 46.7 percent. The bureau notes that 43.0 percent of associate degrees held by adults 25 and older are occupational degrees, often in health care and technical fields that require added credentials.

By job type, nearly 40 percent of workers in service, farm and craft, and professional occupations held at least one. They were less common in production and in sales and administrative jobs.

How many adults are in the group that gains most

The credential premium is largest for workers with a high school diploma, some college, or an associate degree. That describes most American adults. In the 2024 American Community Survey, 125.2 million people 25 and older, 53.1 percent, had one of those as their highest level of education, and 25.7 percent had a high school diploma or GED and no college at all.

The share varies widely by state. In West Virginia it is 65.7 percent of adults, and 39.4 percent stopped at high school. Arkansas, Wyoming, Kentucky, Mississippi, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Alaska are also above 60 percent. At the other end are Massachusetts at 43.1 percent, Colorado at 45.4 percent, and New Jersey at 45.8 percent. In the District of Columbia it is 26.5 percent.

State-by-state college attainment is in the most educated states in America, and income in median household income by state.

Sources

Earnings and credential figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau story Workers With Nondegree Credentials Often Had Higher Median Earnings Than Those Without (September 22, 2026), based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2019 to 2024 combined; the figures are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. State and national educational attainment is from the 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, table B15003, for adults 25 and older, calculated by CensusEasy. The high school group includes GED holders, and "some college" includes people who attended without earning a degree.