1.85 Million Credentials and Counting: The Digital Marketplace is Here 

Over 1.85 million credentials are offered in the U.S. That number, from Credential Engine’s Counting Credentials 2025 report, is striking on its own. But the more important story is what those credentials tell us about how the credential marketplace is changing, and why getting the data infrastructure right has never mattered more. 

Credential Engine’s research in the Counting Credentials report, with its companion piece, Counting Credentials, In Context 2025: The Opportunities of Digital Credentials, captures key insights into a marketplace in the middle of massive transformation. The credential ecosystem has not simply changed in size. It has changed in form and purpose, with more credentials issued digitally, recognized across a broader range of learning experiences, and shared in ways paper records never could. The question the reports raise together is a direct one: do we have the supporting infrastructure to make sense of it all? 

What the Numbers Are Telling Us 

The 2025 count identifies 1,850,034 unique credentials across seven categories and 14 subcategories, from degrees (264,099) and certificates (486,352) to badges (1,022,028), micro-credentials, certifications, occupational licenses, and secondary school diplomas, offered by nearly 135,000 providers, with $2.34 trillion in total annual expenditures across the full education and training ecosystem in the U.S. 

Badges now represent more than half of all credentials in the count. Capturing more accurate badge count data has provided us with new insights into the digitization of credentialing practices. Badges can represent skills and achievements in great detail, with embedded metadata on what was learned, who issued them, and how they connect to other credentials and opportunities. Digital credentials populate job applications, unlock the next course in learning pathways, and support employers searching for workers with specific skills. Digital formats transform credentials from static, siloed records into powerful, dynamic assets. 

Why Infrastructure is Critical 

This is why credential transparency is essential. 1.85 million credentials offered by nearly 135,000 providers across secondary, postsecondary, industry, and online learning platforms lead to massive navigation challenges. Learners, workers, employers, and policymakers cannot make good decisions based on incomplete, inconsistent, or siloed credential information. Without open data infrastructure for describing what credentials mean, how they connect to skills and jobs, and what pathways they enable, people get lost and lose out on opportunities. 

We need shared data infrastructure to empower people to get the full value from credentials.

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The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) provides an open data structure designed to make credential information consistent, comparable, and connected across systems. It enables a credential to tell a complete story: what it represents, how it was earned, what skills it signals, what pathways it connects to, and what learning and employment outcomes it provides.

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The Credential Registry, an open repository for credential information in CTDL, enables the digital credential marketplace to function with transparency and trust at its foundation. 

The Timing Is Urgent 

The marketplace is not waiting for the infrastructure to catch up. Employers, workforce systems, and federal agencies are already acting on the expectation that credential and skill data will be accessible, comparable, and machine-readable. The U.S. Department of Labor has increasingly emphasized the role of talent marketplaces and credential registries in connecting workers to opportunities, and that vision only functions if the underlying data is open and interoperable. Skills-based hiring, Learning and Employment Records (LERs), and AI-powered career navigation rest on the same foundational need for infrastructure. 

The stakes are high. The World Economic Forum projects that 39 percent of workers’ existing skills will be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. The median job tenure in the U.S. is now 3.9 years, meaning the average person may hold more than 12 jobs across their working life. Workers need trusted, portable ways to communicate their skills across systems and employers. A Jobs for the Future survey found that among job seekers who have used digital credentials in applications, 77 percent said communicating their skills to employers was easy. The potential is real, but it depends entirely on the credential and skill data being structured and transparent enough for those systems to read, trust, and act on. 

If credentials are not described in a consistent, machine-readable format, AI matching tools make poor connections, LERs lose their value, and the promise of skills-based talent marketplaces stalls. Linked open data is not a technical detail; it is the condition that makes the digital marketplace work for everyone. 

The Opportunity in Front of Us 

The In Context report closes with a challenge worth taking seriously: “The question is not whether we should embrace the opportunities of digital credentials, but how quickly we can scale them to benefit all Americans.” 

The infrastructure exists. The Credential Registry is open. CTDL is a recognized standard. What is needed is broader adoption from the institutions, providers, platforms, and policymakers who shape the credential marketplace. With clear credential and skill data, the complexity of 1.85 million credentials becomes navigable. Learners can find the right pathways. Employers can identify the talent they need. Systems can connect in ways that create real economic opportunity. 

Credential Engine is here to help make that happen. Our open technologies, including CTDL and the Credential Registry, are available to any organization ready to make their credential and skill data transparent and connected. Whether you are a higher education institution, a workforce provider, a state agency, or an employer, we can support you in publishing your credentials in a format that is discoverable, comparable, and built for the digital credential marketplace. The data infrastructure is ready. We invite you to be part of the solution. 

Author: Deb Everhart, Chief Strategy Officer, Credential Engine 

Read the full reports: Counting Credentials 2025 and Counting Credentials, In Context 2025: The Opportunities of Digital Credentials 

To learn more about publishing your credentials through the Credential Registry, visit credentialengine.org or reach out at info@credentialengine.org.