Welcome back to the PNPI Explorer blog series, where we examine higher education data in different states. This week’s spotlight is on California.

In 2021 in California, there were 411 institutions serving 1,707,903 full-time equivalent (FTE) students, with substantial variation in bachelor’s degree distribution across the population. Using higher education data from the Department of Education, we see that Hispanic or Latino students are the most likely recipients of bachelor’s degrees at California institutions. Nearly one-third of all bachelor’s degrees awarded by California institutions in 2021 went to Hispanic or Latino students.

We can further explore the bachelor’s degree distribution for these students by seeing where California falls against other states using the Explorer’s Comparison Tool. California has the third highest share of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic or Latino students of any state, behind New Mexico (50.6%) and Texas (34%). California’s share is also more than double the national estimate of 15.3%.

Find something interesting about California that you would like to share with us? Drop us a note via our feedback page or discuss your findings on LinkedIn! Check back next week when we explore data insights about Colorado.

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