A decade on, computing is still about three-quarters male at every level

Women were 22.2% of new CS bachelor’s graduates in 2022, the top of a decade-long climb; another 0.1% identified as nonbinary or other. Master’s programs are the least lopsided of the three degrees at 26.3% women — but that is up from 24.6% in 2011, which is 1.7 percentage points in eleven years. At PhD level the share slipped to 22.1% in 2022, and the report is explicit that the long-term trend is unchanged. In other words, the pipeline does not narrow for women as it goes up; it was already narrow at the bottom.

Faculty are the one place the number is rising

As of 2022 faculty in CS, computer engineering, and information fields were 75.6% male, 24.3% female, and 0.1% nonbinary — up since 2011, but by a small amount. New hires are the exception worth watching: 28.0% of new faculty hires in 2022 were women, against 71.7% men, a share the report notes sits well above the proportion of new female PhDs. Whatever is happening in hiring is running ahead of what the doctoral pipeline is producing.

One number that is not about gender or race

For the second year running the CRA asked departments how many students received disability accommodations. The answers were low and flat: 4.1% of bachelor’s students, 1.5% of master’s students, and 1.1% of PhD students in 2022, against 4.1%, 0.8%, and 1.0% the year before. The chapter says only that the proportion has remained consistent year over year — it does not claim the figure measures how many students have a disability.

Among resident CS bachelor’s graduates in 2022, white students were 44.6% and Asian students 35.7% — the two groups are now nine points apart, where a decade ago the gap was far wider. Hispanic students of any race were 11.0%, multiracial students 4.4%, and Black or African American students 4.1%. The head counts behind those shares: 10,970 white, 8,795 Asian, 2,708 Hispanic, 1,072 multiracial, 1,004 Black or African American, 33 American Indian or Alaska Native, and 28 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Higher up, the numbers get very small

• Master’s graduates in 2022 were 47.9% white, 35.8% Asian, 8.2% Hispanic, 4.2% Black or African American, and 3.5% multiracial — 3,050, 2,278, 522, 269, and 222 people respectively.
• PhD graduates were 58.9% white and 29.6% Asian, with 5.1% Black or African American and 4.7% Hispanic. Taken together, 41.1% of resident CS PhD graduates in 2022 were not white, a considerable rise on 2011.
• But at PhD level the counts are tiny enough to read one by one: 327 white, 164 Asian, 28 Black or African American, 26 Hispanic, 7 multiracial, 2 American Indian or Alaska Native, and 1 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
• Faculty are the oldest layer and look it: 57.3% white and 30.1% Asian, then 3.0% Hispanic and 2.5% Black or African American. The gap between white faculty and the next largest group was 46.1 points in 2011 and 27.2 points by 2021 — closing, but from a long way out.

What the survey does not see

Every ethnicity figure above covers domestic or resident students and faculty only. The CRA reports how many nonresident aliens there are at each level, but not their ethnicity, so a large share of the people in these classrooms is simply outside the chart. The survey is also partial: of the 297 PhD-granting departments targeted, 182 responded, a 61% response rate. And the AI Index warns against per capita comparisons between this North American data and the European figures that follow, because the European numbers come from national statistical offices and cover far more ground.

At bachelor’s level men dominate in the majority of surveyed nations, and the gap has narrowed only slightly since 2011. France (14.8%), the United Kingdom (17.8%), and Germany (21.5%) report some of the lowest female shares on the list — three of the largest computing economies in Europe sitting at or near the bottom. Bulgaria has the highest share of female graduates at 35.2%.

Master’s degrees show the same shape with a wider spread. Estonia (42.0%), Romania (41.9%), and Bulgaria (40.4%) come closest to parity; Belgium (13.7%), Italy (14.1%), and Switzerland (15.8%) are furthest from it. The ordering is worth sitting with: the three countries closest to parity all sit on the eastern side of the continent, the three furthest from it in the west, and the two ends are about threefold apart.

PhD graduates are predominantly male in every surveyed country without exception. The United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland have narrowed their gaps over the last decade, with women taking a growing share; Finland and Spain have seen theirs widen slightly. Read those movements carefully, though — where the cohorts are small, a single year swings the percentage. Bulgaria produced 24 PhDs in total in 2022, Estonia 26, and Latvia 12. One label note: a year here means the year an academic year ended, so 2022 covers the 2021/2022 intake.

In 2022, male students took 68.9% of AP CS exams, female students 30.5%, and students identifying as neither 0.7%. The female share was 16.8% in 2007, so it has nearly doubled in fifteen years — the fastest-moving gender number anywhere in this chapter, and still the minority position by better than two to one.

The state map does not run the way you would guess

The states with the highest female share of AP CS test-takers in 2022 were Mississippi (41%), Alabama (37%), and Washington, D.C. (37%). California, Texas, and Washington — the states usually named for CS and AI activity — each land at about 31%, respectable but well behind. At the other end sit Kansas (16%), North Dakota (18%), and Iowa (18%). Whatever produces a balanced exam cohort, it is not proximity to the industry.

Ethnicity is moving here too

White students remain the largest group of AP CS test-takers at 38.2%, followed by Asian students at 27.8% and Hispanic/Latino/Latina students at 17.6%; Black or African American students were 6.7% and students of two or more races 4.6%. Native American/Alaskan students were 0.6% and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students 0.15%. In exam counts that is 77,070 white, 56,098 Asian, 35,528 Hispanic/Latino/Latina, 13,577 Black/African American, 9,293 two or more races, 1,285 Native American/Alaskan, and 295 Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Participation from Asian, Hispanic/Latino/Latina, and Black/African American students has risen year over year — the same direction as the postsecondary numbers, which is the chapter’s third headline finding.