header image

Maine change

Choose location type
Choose location comparison

  • Choose time frames
    To view all years at one time, download raw data.
Uncheck All
Race or Ethnicity
Choose data types
Maine Children's Alliance

High School graduation rates by race and ethnicity in Maine

Change Indicator

(i) Select Table Type:

  • Detailed
  • Sort / Rank

Why This Indicator Matters

All youth deserve to have access to a quality education. Historically, there have been racial disparities in graduation rates due to many factors, including structural inequality, systemic racism and implicit bias.  Students who graduate from high school have higher wages, lower unemployment and are less likely to need public assistance than those who do not graduate. Their long-term physical and mental health is also better if they graduate from high school.

What the data shows
Nationally,  the 2016-2017 rate of graduation was 72% for American Indian, 78% for Black/African -American, 80% for Hispanic, 89% for White, and 91% for Asian students. Maine's high school graduation rate in 2019 was within 2 percentage points of these national rates for Black/African American, Hispanic and White and Maine exceeded national averages for American Indian and Asian.

In 2019, the only racial groups with below an 80% high school graduation rate in Maine was American Indian at 78.5%. 

show more
Data Provided By

Definitions: The percent of youth who graduate in 4 years from public schools and 60% publicly funded private schools.  Race & ethnicity is self reported at each high school and is compiled at the state level.
The numerator is the number of students of a particular race who graduated from high school in 4 years and the denominator is the number of students who  started high school 4 years earlier.

Data Source: Data Source: Maine Department of Education Summary Tables
Maine Dept. of Education Data Warehouse
Source for national statistics: 4-yr graduation rates Ed Week Grad Rates By State


Footnotes: This data looks at a cohort of students who began ninth grade 4 years prior to see if they graduated within 4 years.

Updated June 2020.