No High School Diploma [Washington (State)]
State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal · 2025 Full Details
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- Title
- No High School Diploma [Washington (State)]
- Description
- This data is included as part of the Environmental Health Disparities Version 3.0 map. To see this map, visit our webpage . For more technical information on this map and the model used, visit our technical report (link). Background Education is a primary predictor of the health of a community. Education comes in many forms. In the U.S., one of the most commonly tracked metrics is the completion of a formal high school education. Education level can impact daily life and affect individual health in many ways. Lower formal education may lead to: Increased stress. Lack of social support. Limited occupational opportunities. Reduced access to nutritious food. Limited access to health care services. Increased risk of incarceration. Increased exposure to environmental pollutants. Due to these impacts, people with less formal education face lower life expectancy and higher hospitalization rates during spikes in pollution levels than people with more formal education. Schools often underserve marginalized communities. In Washington, Native students, students with disabilities, and students in foster care face the lowest graduation rates. Evidence Low educational attainment is a stressor that can lead to negative health outcomes. These include higher respiratory and heart-disease mortality rates [1] and an increased risk of asthma-related hospitalization during spikes in ozone levels [2]. Higher educational attainment is associated with higher life expectancy and a reduction of risks for diseases associated with aging [3, 4]. Communities with lower high school graduation rates have a higher risk of death from any cause due to exposure to sulfates [5]. They also have higher rates of respiratory disease-related hospitalizations due to air pollution levels [6]. The relationship between environment, health, and education goes in multiple directions. Exposure to pollution can disrupt education, leading to lower high school graduation rates. Children who attend schools downwind of heavy traffic pollution have lower test scores, higher absences from school, and higher behavioral incidences than children who live upwind [7]. Because people with less than a high school education are exposed to more pollution throughout their lives, this can lead to multi-generational impacts on education and health [8]. Washington graduation rates show additional disparities based on other socioeconomic factors as well. In 2022, 67.8% of American Indian/Alaska Native students graduated, compared to 82.8% of White students. Students in foster care had a graduation rate of 53.3%. Students with disabilities had a graduation rate of 65.3% [9]. Data Source American Community Survey 5-year estimates, S1501 : Educational Attainment Methods The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) asks respondents a variety of detailed questions on social and economic topics. This measure was developed using census tract-level educational attainment data from the ACS's 5-year estimates. This measure displays the percentage of the population 25 years and older that report not having a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma. For more information on how ACS data is collected and processed, refer to ACS General Data Users Handbooks . Data Source Variables Used Calculations Performed* ACS 5-year, S1501 : Educational Attainment DP02_0059, DP02_0060, DP02_0061 # No HS diploma = sum of (DP02_0060, DP02_0061) Population 25+ = DP02_0059 % No HS diploma = sum( DP02_0060, DP02_0061) / DP02_0059 * For margin of error (MOE) calculations, refer to U.S. Census Bureau, A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data Appendix 1 . For MOEs in which either the numerator or denominator of a proportion were derived from multiple ACS variables, see "Calculating MOEs for Aggregated Count Data;" for MOEs derived from proportions, see "Calculating MOEs for Derived Proportions." The data table shows the estimate for this variable minus the MOE (lower ME) and the estimate plus the MOE (upper ME). Caveats The margin of error shows how much uncertainty there is about whether the survey data accurately represents the full population. The confidence interval is the estimate plus or minus the margin of error. There is a 90 percent probability that the true population value is within the confidence interval, after accounting for sampling variability. All survey data have some margin of error due to sampling variability. Results from smaller populations are less reliable because of their smaller sample sizes, leading to a larger margin of error. Counts for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations are known to be less reliable. The survey design attempts to address these issues through increased sampling rates in smaller populations and on Tribal lands. The data may also have non-sampling errors, which aren't shown in the tables. These can happen if there are problems with the survey questions, if there are issues with processing or weighting the data, or if certain groups of people don't respond [10]. Individuals with a distrust for government, more concerns about privacy, and who are very busy are less likely to respond to the survey. This measure is aggregated across the census tract and does not represent each individual community within the tract. These data should always be supplemented with local data and equitable engagement for more accurate insights. ACS bundles data in one-year, three-year, or five-year groups to get more reliable results. To have census tract data on all 39 counties in Washington, we use the ACS five-year grouping. Sources Lewis, A., Sax, S., Wason, S., & Campleman, S. (2011). Non-chemical stressors and cumulative risk assessment: An overview of current initiatives and potential air pollutant Interactions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8(6), 2020-73. Neidell , M. (2004). Air pollution, health, and socio-economic status: The effect of outdoor air quality on childhood asthma. Journal of Health Economics, 23(6), 1209-36. Adler, N., Pantell, MS., O'donovan , A., Blackburn, E., Cawthon, R., Koster, A., et al. (2013). Educational attainment and late life telomere length in the health, aging and body composition study. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 27(1), 15-21. Hummer, R., & Hernandez, E. (2013). The effect of educational attainment on adult mortality in the United States. Population Bulletin, 68(1), 1-16. Krewski , D., Burnett, R., Goldberg, M., Hoover, B., Siemiatycki , J., Jerrett, M., et al. (2003). Overview of the reanalysis of the Harvard six cities study and American Cancer Society study of particulate air pollution and mortality. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 66(19), 1507-52. Cakmak, S., Dales, R., & Judek , S. (2006). Respiratory health effects of air pollution gases: modification by education and income. Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 61(1), 5-10. Heissel , JA., Persico , C. & Simon, D. (2022). Does Pollution Drive Achievement? The Effect of Traffic Pollution on Academic Performance. Journal of Human Resources, 57(3), 747-76. Zou B, Peng F, Wan N, Mamady K, Wilson GJ (2014) Spatial Cluster Detection of Air Pollution Exposure Inequities across the United States. PLoS ONE 9(3): e91917. Kaundal , M. (Presenter). (2023, February 22). Disparities in high school graduation rates & student success [Public performance review]. Results Washington. https://results.wa.gov/sites/default/files/HighSchoolGraduationRatesPPR_022223.pdf Pickering, K. (2022, December 9). Nonresponse in census surveys [PDF]. Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. https://apps.bea.gov/fesac/meetings/2022-12-09/Pickering-FESACNonresponse-in-Census-Surveys-12092022.pdf
- Creator
- WADOH
- Publisher
- State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal
- Temporal Coverage
- Last Modified: 2025-07-21
- Date Issued
- 2025-07-08
- Rights
- Neither the Washington State Department of Health (WADOH), nor any agency, officer, or employee of the WADOH warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from this system does so at their own risk.
- Access Rights
- Public
- Format
- ArcGIS FeatureLayer
- Language
- English
- Date Added
- February 02, 2026
- Provenance Statement
- The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal on 2026-02-02.
Cite and Reference
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Citation
WADOH (2025). No High School Diploma [Washington (State)]. State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal. https://geo.wa.gov/datasets/fb5dc68a58c54f44887042b1f787bc82_0 (web service) -
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