Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America
United States of America: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or was 79.4% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America, 1994–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
United States of America recorded 79.4% for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in 2024.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.5% on the previous year and down 0.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America peaked at 83.9% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 72.0%, in 1994.
That places United States of America 15th out of 38 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 72.0% | — |
| 1995 | 72.1% | +0.1% |
| 1996 | 73.0% | +1.2% |
| 1997 | 73.4% | +0.6% |
| 1998 | 73.8% | +0.6% |
| 1999 | 75.0% | +1.5% |
| 2000 | 75.2% | +0.3% |
| 2001 | 75.6% | +0.5% |
| 2002 | 75.7% | +0.1% |
| 2003 | 75.4% | -0.4% |
| 2004 | 75.8% | +0.5% |
| 2005 | 75.7% | -0.1% |
| 2006 | 76.1% | +0.5% |
| 2007 | 77.0% | +1.2% |
| 2008 | 77.6% | +0.8% |
| 2009 | 77.8% | +0.3% |
| 2010 | 78.0% | +0.3% |
| 2011 | 78.3% | +0.4% |
| 2012 | 78.9% | +0.7% |
| 2013 | 79.5% | +0.7% |
| 2014 | 79.9% | +0.5% |
| 2015 | 80.0% | +0.1% |
| 2016 | 81.1% | +1.4% |
| 2017 | 81.7% | +0.7% |
| 2018 | 82.2% | +0.6% |
| 2019 | 82.4% | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 83.9% | +1.8% |
| 2021 | 83.7% | -0.2% |
| 2022 | 78.9% | -5.7% |
| 2023 | 79.0% | +0.1% |
| 2024 | 79.4% | +0.5% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 73.2% | 72.0% | 75.0% | 6 |
| 2000s | 76.2% | 75.2% | 77.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 80.2% | 78.0% | 82.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 81.0% | 78.9% | 83.9% | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States of America
More education data for United States of America
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), gaps filled 2,022 tertiary education (2023)
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), annual growth 0.0495 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 1.78 million (2023)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America?
- Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in United States of America was 79.4% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in United States of America?
- The highest recorded value was 83.9% in 2020.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in United States of America?
- The lowest recorded value was 72.0% in 1994.
- How does United States of America rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- United States of America ranks 15th out of 38 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or rising or falling in United States of America?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States of America data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, immigrant background, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release