Educational Attainment findings from the 2016 American Values Atlas (PRRI)

Levels of educational attainment vary widely between religious groups, even among white Christians. Unitarian-Universalists and Hindus are, on average, the most educated, while Hispanic Catholics are the least formally educated.

Close to half (48%) of white evangelical Protestants have a high school education or less, compared to fewer than four in ten white mainline Protestants (38%), white Catholics (37%), and Mormons (34%). Roughly one-third of Mormons (32%) and more than one-third of white mainline Protestants (36%) and white Catholics (39%) have a four-year college degree, compared to only one-quarter (25%) of white evangelical Protestants.

Among Protestants, there are substantial variations by denominational family. Presbyterians and Episcopalians have the highest levels of educational attainment. Roughly half of Presbyterians (48%) and Episcopalians (52%) have at least a four-year college degree. In contrast, significantly fewer Methodists (36%), Lutherans (34%), Baptists (19%), and Pentecostals (15%) graduated from a four-year college or university. A majority (55%) of Baptists and six in ten (60%) Pentecostals have no more than a high school education.

Nearly half (49%) of Catholics have a high school education or less, while more than one in five (21%) have some college education, and 29% report having at least a four-year college degree. However, levels of educational attainment vary considerably by ethnicity. Seven in ten (70%) Hispanic Catholics have a high school education or less, compared to 37% of white Catholics. White Catholics are about three times as likely as Hispanic Catholics to have at least a four-year college degree (39% vs. 12%, respectively).

Nonwhite Christian religious groups have considerably lower levels of education. A majority of black Protestants (52%), Hispanic Protestants (65%), and Hispanic Catholics (70%) report having a high school education or less. Fewer than one-quarter of black Protestants (22%), Hispanic Protestants (14%), and Hispanic Catholics (12%) have a college degree.

Among non-Christian religious groups, Muslims have the lowest levels of educational attainment. More than four in ten (44%) Muslims have a high school degree or less, compared to 37% of Buddhists and about one in five Jews (22%) and Hindus (19%). Jewish and Hindu Americans are highly educated; strong majorities have a four-year college degree (61% vs. 69%, respectively), including more than one-third of each group who have post-graduate degrees (34% vs. 38% respectively).

However, among Jewish Americans, there are considerable differences in educational background by denomination. Orthodox Jews are far more likely than Reform Jews to have no more than a high school education (44% vs. 14%, respectively).

No religious group has a higher proportion of members with post-graduate degrees than Unitarian-Universalists. Nearly two-thirds (65%) have a college education, including more than four in ten (43%) who have an advanced degree.

Religiously unaffiliated Americans are less educated than many religious groups. More than four in ten (44%) have a high school education or less. One-quarter (25%) have some college experience, such as an associate’s degree, and roughly three in ten (31%) have a four-year college education. However, self-identified atheists and agnostics have significantly greater educational experience. About one-third of atheists (34%) and agnostics (31%) have no more than a high school education, while 42% of each group have at least a four-year college degree.

https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-christian-religiously-unaffiliated/