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Richard Fry

Senior Researcher

Expertise:Demographics and Social Trends

Richard Fry is a senior researcher at Pew Research Center. He is an expert on school and college enrollment in the United States, as well as the returns to education in the labor market and marriage market, and its connection to household economic well-being such as net worth. Fry’s analyses are largely empirical, as he has extensive expertise analyzing U.S. Census Bureau and other federal data collections. Before joining Pew Research Center in 2002, he was a senior economist at the Educational Testing Service. Fry received his doctorate in economics from the University of Michigan. Fry regularly documents U.S. educational and enrollment milestones, the economic well-being of the nation’s young adults, the role of student debt in financing college education, and the changing relationship between education and marriage and cohabitation.

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short readsOct 1, 2019

The number of people in the average U.S. household is going up for the first time in over 160 years

This decade will likely be the first since the one that began in 1850 to break a long-running decline in American household size.
short readsSep 18, 2019

Households headed by less-educated adults have seen significant income gains during U.S. recovery

Household incomes in the United States have rebounded from their 2012 bottom in the wake of the Great Recession. And for the most part, the typical incomes of households headed by less-educated adults as well as more-educated adults have increased.
short readsJul 31, 2019

College faculty have become more racially and ethnically diverse, but remain far less so than students

Around a quarter of college faculty in the U.S. were nonwhite in fall 2017, compared with 45% of students.
short readsJul 24, 2019

Baby Boomers are staying in the labor force at rates not seen in generations for people their age

The majority of Baby Boomers are still in the labor force: In 2018, 53% of adults ages 54 to 72 were still working or looking for work.
short readsJun 20, 2019

U.S. women near milestone in the college-educated labor force

This year will likely be the first year in which women are a majority of the U.S. college-educated labor force.
short readsMay 29, 2019

Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms

Midterm voter turnout reached a modern high in 2018, and Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X accounted for a narrow majority of those voters
reportMay 22, 2019

A Rising Share of Undergraduates Are From Poor Families, Especially at Less Selective Colleges

An influx of students from low-income families and students of color at U.S. colleges and universities has almost exclusively fueled the growth in the overall number of undergraduates.
reportFeb 14, 2019

Millennial life: How young adulthood today compares with prior generations

Now that the youngest Millennials are adults, how do they compare with those who were their age in the generations that came before them?
reportJan 30, 2019

An early look at the 2020 electorate

The 2020 U.S. presidential election is rapidly coming into view – and so is the electorate that will determine its outcome. While demographic changes unfold slowly, it’s already clear that the 2020 electorate will be unique in several ways. Nonwhites will account for a third of eligible voters – their largest share ever – driven […]
short readsDec 11, 2018

Young adult households are earning more than most older Americans did at the same age

The median adjusted income in a household headed by a Millennial was $69,000 in 2017. The previous peak for households headed by people ages 22 to 37 was in 2000.