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Table 66. Statistical profile of doctorate recipients in education fields, by sex and field of study: 2016

Characteristic All education fields Education administration Education research Teacher education Teaching fields Other education
All doctorate recipients (number)a 5,153 829 2,386 181 1,167 590
Sex (%)
Male 30.1 36.9 30.1 23.8 27.0 28.3
Female 69.9 63.1 69.9 76.2 73.0 71.7
Unknown 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 83.5 88.1 83.0 87.8 81.3 82.0
Temporary visa holder 10.9 3.9 11.7 7.2 15.5 9.7
Unknown 5.6 8.1 5.2 5.0 3.2 8.3
Marital status (%)
Never married 17.7 11.9 19.9 16.6 17.6 17.6
Married 56.7 56.6 55.8 60.2 62.4 48.1
Marriage-like relationship 4.9 2.8 5.7 5.5 4.6 4.7
Separated, divorced, widowed 7.4 9.2 6.7 7.7 7.3 8.0
Unknown 13.3 19.5 11.8 9.9 8.1 21.5
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 24.9 27.7 20.1 37.0 32.4 22.0
Master's earned (%) 87.9 83.0 88.3 91.2 92.6 82.5
Age at doctorate (median years) 38.6 44.2 37.2 41.7 37.7 38.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 15.0 19.0 13.6 16.3 14.4 15.2
From graduate school start 11.7 15.3 11.0 13.3 11.2 12.4
From doctoral program startc 6.0 6.3 6.0 6.3 5.7 6.3
Male doctorate recipients (number) 1,550 306 719 43 315 167
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 82.1 88.6 81.8 79.1 75.6 84.4
Temporary visa holder 13.2 4.2 14.2 14.0 21.3 10.2
Unknown 4.7 7.2 4.0 7.0 3.2 5.4
Marital status (%)
Never married 16.8 D 16.8 D 20.6 19.2
Married 61.5 64.7 60.9 65.1 61.6 56.9
Marriage-like relationship 5.7 D 7.0 D 5.4 5.4
Separated, divorced, widowed 4.5 5.6 4.5 0.0 4.4 3.6
Unknown 11.6 15.7 10.8 9.3 7.9 15.0
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 23.9 26.5 17.1 32.6 38.1 19.2
Master's earned (%) 89.7 85.6 90.0 90.7 93.3 88.6
Age at doctorate (median years) 38.4 44.1 37.8 38.9 37.4 38.6
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 14.6 19.2 13.6 15.3 13.5 15.0
From graduate school start 11.7 15.5 10.9 12.3 10.3 11.7
From doctoral program startc 5.9 6.9 6.0 6.2 5.3 6.0
Female doctorate recipients (number) 3,603 523 1,667 138 852 423
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 84.1 87.8 83.6 90.6 83.5 81.1
Temporary visa holder 9.9 3.6 10.7 5.1 13.4 9.5
Unknown 5.9 8.6 5.8 4.3 3.2 9.5
Marital status (%)
Never married 18.1 D 21.2 D 16.4 17.0
Married 54.6 51.8 53.6 58.7 62.7 44.7
Marriage-like relationship 4.6 D 5.2 D 4.3 4.5
Separated, divorced, widowed 8.7 11.3 7.7 10.1 8.3 9.7
Unknown 14.0 21.8 12.2 10.1 8.2 24.1
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 25.4 28.5 21.4 38.4 30.3 23.2
Master's earned (%) 87.1 81.5 87.6 91.3 92.4 80.1
Age at doctorate (median years) 38.7 44.4 36.9 42.2 37.9 38.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 15.0 19.0 13.5 16.9 15.0 15.5
From graduate school start 11.9 15.3 11.0 13.3 11.6 12.7
From doctoral program startc 6.0 6.2 6.0 6.3 5.9 6.6
D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information.
a Includes respondents who did not report sex.
b A bachelor's degree is counted as "in same field as doctorate" if the fields of study for the doctorate recipient's bachelor's degree and doctorate degree are both in the same major field category of the National Science Foundation's field of study taxonomy, except for engineering and education fields where broad field categories need be the same. See table A-6 in the technical notes for a listing of major fields and their constituent subfields.
c Time to doctorate from doctoral program start is based on master's degree entry if the master's degree was at the doctoral institution in the same fine field of study or was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry.
NOTE: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2016.