Higher education is associated with greater earnings and standard of living. Post-graduate plans are also an indirect measure of the educational strength of the region's schools.

In 2025, 55% of high school graduates in Lancaster County planned to attend a 2- or 4-year college or university, a decrease of 8 percentage points from 2008. The Lancaster rate in 2025 was 3 percentage points lower than the state rate of 58%, which saw a decrease of 11 percentage points (69% to 58%) in that same time period.

Lancaster County's 2- or 4-year college going rate was below Chester (73%) Cumberland (65%), and Berks (57%), and slightly higher than York, Lebanon (both 54%), and Dauphin (43%).

The plans of a high school graduate may not come to fruition for many reasons, including finances, lack of admission opportunities, or a change of plans between the time of reporting and enrollment. For purposes of the listed reports, a high school graduate is a student who has received a diploma. Students earning high school credentials by obtaining a General Educational Development (GED) diploma are not considered graduates for the purpose of the data as reported by the state of Pennsylvania.